Golfers headed to state

FARMINGTON -- A sign of good things to come for Sikeston's golf team happened on Sunday. During a practice round for Monday's district tournament, Jonathan Spence sank a hole-in-one on the number 16 par 3.

His good luck obviously rubbed off on his teammates as Sikeston dominated Monday's district event at Eagle Lake with a team score of 314.

With the first place finish, the Bulldogs qualify for state as a team.

"We kept our goals simple: shoot a 320 to place as a team so all could go to state and target a round of 80 for every member," explained Sikeston coach Rick Oetting. "The team surpassed that goal today. Even using our highest score we out-shot our closest competitors."

Sikeston beat out second place Dexter by 10 strokes. Behind Dexter came Ste. Genevieve (332), Festus (337), Fredericktown (350), Perryville (358), Kennett (375), NMCC (379), Herculaneum (381) and Park Hills Central (383).

"As I watched each young man come into the final hole, I could tell something great was happening," said Oetting.

Freshman E.C. Atchison came in first with an 80. If he hadn't sent one out of bounds one hole, he would have shot in the 70s. Junior Tanner Fritz was next in. Tanner had a big smile on his face, and why not? He shot a 76.

Senior Brandon DeWitt was next with a 77.

"The four of us were almost holding our breath waiting on Jonathan Spence to finish," said Oetting. "He had an 84. That beat our goal and we knew we would qualify as a team for state. When sophomore Matt Bain came in with an 81, we knew we had the championship won. I don't think you could have wiped the grins off our face for another hour."

Ste. Genevieve's Zach Decker was the district's low medalist with a 75, followed by Fritz at 76, DeWitt at 77, Dexter's Chad Gill at 78 and Atchison at 80.

Dexter's Ryan Jackson, Kennett's Josh Wilcoxson, Dexter's Kyle Christian, Festus' Dan Sieher and Bain all tied for sixth place with an 81.