By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
An improved round of golf Thursday had the Brownsville Veterans Memorial boys feeling better about their showing at this week’s Region IV-5A Tournament in San Antonio.
The two-day Region IV-5A boys event ended Thursday at the Golf Club of Texas in San Antonio and was played at the same time as the Region IV-6A boys tournament at Republic Golf Club, also in San Antonio.
The Chargers were in 12th place after Wednesday’s opening round and finished ninth in the team standings after Thursday’s play. Their two-day team total was 372-337 — 709.
“Our guys came back from 12th place after Day One,” said Brownsville Veterans golf coach Jose Luis Zarate, whose Lady Chargers earlier in the week won the Region IV-5A girls tournament and qualified for the UIL state tournament next month in Bastrop. “Everyone improved his scores (so that was good to see).”
Leading the way for the Chargers was Kevin Gomez, who shot 89-76 — 165. Other scores for the Chargers included Michael Valle (94-83 — 177), Daniel Yznaga (94-84 — 178), Ryan Ruiz (95-94 — 189) and Jorge Santillana (98-94 — 192).
The top three teams at both 6A and 5A regional tournaments advanced to state along with the top three individual players who were not members of a state-qualifying squad.
At the Region IV-5A event, the top three teams were Alamo Heights (243-241 — 584), Boerne Champion (310-307 — 617) and Austin High (314-313 — 627). Sharyland High was fourth at 643.
Individually, Mac Meissner of Alamo Heights was the 5A regional champion by shooting 67-67 — 134, which was 10 under par. The runner-up was Sharyland High’s Jun Min Lee (67-71 — 138).
Qualifying for state individually from the Valley along with Lee was Mission Veteran Memorial’s Diego Hernandez, who finished in a three-way tie for third by shooting 73-73 — 146.
At the Region IV-6A Tournament, the team champion was Austin Westlake (282-279 — 561) followed by Austin Lake Travis (305-282 — 587) and Comal Smithson Valley (311-294 — 605).
The 6A individual winner was Westlake’s Reese Ramsey, who shot 66-70 — 136 to finish 6 under par at Republic Golf Course. Among the three individual players qualifying for state was McAllen Memorial’s C.W. Phillips, who finished at 72-71 — 143.
Hanna junior Santiago Garcia came in at 78-75 — 153.