Bulldog boys third at Sandpoint Invitational
—Photo by ERIC PLUMMER Nick Crowley fired a 79 on Tuesday, one of three Bulldogs under 80 en route to a third place team finish at their home meet.
SANDPOINT — Three Bulldog boys, all sophomores, shot in the 70s on Tuesday, helping lead to a third place finish at the Sandpoint Invitational, hosted by the Idaho Club under nearly perfect spring conditions.
Coeur d’Alene’s Brayden Ogle shot a 72 to earn medalist honors, edging Jack Reeves by one stroke. Damien Fitzpatrick shot a 77, and Nick Crowley a 79 for the boys team, which for the first time boasts a nucleus capable of contending for a state trophy.
More importantly, the Bulldogs beat 4A Rival Lakeland for the second time, by a huge margin, and will be looking to punch their ticket to state as a team with a similar performance at districts.
Caroline Hawkins, a long player from tee to green, carded an 88 to lead the Bulldog girls, while Ali Creighton (93) and Nina McDonnell (99) also broke 100 on the very course the team has been practicing on this spring.
Like many of the Bulldogs, Hawkins has been logging some practice time at the Idaho Club, and the scores for both the boys and girls teams are the lowest they’ve been in more than a decade, possibly longer.
Many of the regions high school coaches got to see the Idaho Club for the first time, and were both impressed and happy for their teams to get the chance to play a course of that caliber.
Coeur d’Alene assistant coach Craig Leaf said not long after the teams teed off on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, many of the coaches got together and vowed to come up and play the course for themselves.
Lewiston’s boys won the team title with a 298, while Moscow won the girls team title with a 357. Lewiston’s Kylie Esh shot a 64 to earn girls medalist honors.
Sandpoint is at the Lakeland Invitational today.
BOYS
TEAM SCORES — 1, Lewiston 298. 2, Post Falls 300. 3, Sandpoint 316. 4, Coeur d’Alene 321. 5, Lake City 321. 6, Bonners Ferry 361. 7, Lakeland 368. 8, Moscow 371. 9, St. Maries 400.
MEDALIST — Brayden Ogle, Coeur d’Alene, 72.
LAKELAND — Dylan Knight 77, Andrew Waddington 86, Cole Tingey 106, D. Davis 100.
BONNERS FERRY — P pollacia 83, K. Shea 99, M. Kramer 75, C. English 104, J. Fess 123.
SANDPOINT — Jack Reeves 73, Nick Crowley 79, Damien Fitzpatrick 77, Lake Wilks 87, Jacob Humrich 88, K. Dancer 97.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES — 1, Moscow 357. 2, Lewiston 361. 3, Lake City 369. 4, Sandpoint 380. 5, Lakeland 384. 6, St. Maries 395. 7, Post Falls 403.
MEDALIST — Kylie Esh, Lewiston, 64.
LAKELAND — Morgan Neff 104, Kenzie Roth 92, Monica Higbee 87, Rachel Rager 101, Sydney Suko 107.
BONNERS FERRY — K. Kramer 114, A. Youngwirth 122, S. Chovinard, 119.
SANDPOINT — Caroline Hawkins 88, Ali Creighton 93, Nina DcDonnell 99, Maddy Albertson 114, Hannah Hurst 100.