DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
Rio Grande Valley golf teams and players came up short Tuesday in their bid to send anyone to the Class 6A or 5A boys state tournaments later this month.
At the Class 6A tournament at Cedar Creek Golf Course in San Antonio, McAllen Memorial placed fifth, 38 strokes behind third-place San Antonio Reagan.
The top three teams and top three individuals not on a top-three team qualified for the state tournament.
“We gave it our best effort and I was proud of the kids,” McAllen Memorial coach Celso Gonzales said. “We were trying a little bit too hard. Putts weren’t going in, we were getting frustrated and they were getting mad at themselves. We just weren’t having fun and they kind of felt the heat today.”
Weslaco East senior Paul Meints was the highest Valley individual finisher with a 15th-place standing and 156 two-day total. McAllen Memorial’s Carlos Reyes was a stroke behind, finishing tied for 16th with a 157 score.
Edinburg North’s Phillip Garza finished tied for 21st with a 159 total.
San Antonio Johnson, San Antonio Reagan and San Antonio Brandeis finished as the three team state qualifiers. Those three teams were playing on their home course.
“We just couldn’t read our putts,” Gonzales said. “They looked like they were going to push a certain way and they wouldn’t. The San Antonio teams in the lead, that’s their home course. They play this every day and they know all the breaks and that was a disadvantage for us.”
Johnson’s Sean Meehan won the individual title with a score of 141. He will be joined at state by Brandeis’ Mason Weld and Reagan’s Ben Getman.
The Mustangs graduate two key seniors in Taylor Kucia and Reyes, but sophomore Trevor Kucia will return and Gonzales has some key freshmen looming as well.
“Nobody expected us to be in this position, except us,” Gonzales said. “The kids are talking about next year already, so that’s good.”
At the Class 5A tournament at Republic Golf Club, Edinburg Vela, Mission Veterans Memorial and Edcouch-Elsa all finished in the top 10. Vela finished sixth, 18 strokes behind third-place Boerne Champion with a score of 636. Mission Vets finished in seventh and Edcouch-Elsa finished ninth.
Alamo Heights, Austin Vandegrift and Boerne Champion were the three team state qualifiers. Kerrville Tivy’s Colin Uecker won the individual title with a 140. Uvalde’s Clayton King and San Antonio Edison’s Angelo Leyvani also qualified for state.
Mission Veterans sophomore Diego Hernandez finished tied for eighth with a score of 146, a stroke back of King and Leyvani. Brownsville Porter’s Adrian Saenz finished tied for 18th with a 154. Edinburg Vela’s Alberto Uriegas was the next highest Valley finisher, tied for 22nd with a score of 156.
“Diego’s short game is great. He spends a lot of time on it and that’s what makes a difference with the low scores,” Mission Vets coach Jorge Longoria said. “He was the hitting the ball on the fairways, hitting the greens. He just missed a few there, and it caught up to him at the end.”
==================================================
Region IV-6A Golf Tournament
Final Day
Cedar Creek Golf Course, San Antonio
Boys
Team: 1. S.A. Johnson, 604; 2. S.A. Reagan, 607; 3. S.A. Brandeis, 612; 4. New Braunfels (1), 637; 5. McAllen Memorial, 650; 6. Brownsville Hanna, 660; 7. Corpus Christi Ray, 661; 8. S.A. Clark, 662; 9. Brownsville Veterans Memorial, 667; 10. Weslaco High, 673; 11. New Braunfels (2), 674; 12. Laredo Alexander, 686; 13. Laredo United, 691; 14. Edinburg North, 705; 15. Corpus Christi Carroll, 738; 16. McAllen High, 771.
Individuals: 1. Sean Meehan, S.A. Johnson, 141; 2. Mason Weld, S.A. Brandeis, 143; 3. Ben Getman, S.A. Reagan, 143; 4. Christopner Kane, S.A. Warren, 148; T-5. Michael Lebahn, S.A Reagan, 149; T-5. Nick Duggan, Helotes O’Connor, 149; T-7. Andres Acevedo, S.A. Brandeis, 150; T-7. Cole Donielson, S.A. Churchill, 150; T-7. Gerardo Daniel, S.A. Johnson, 150; 10. Marshall Martin, S.A. Johnson, 153; 11. Seger Howell, Converse Judson, 154; T-12. Jonathan Koeppe, S.A. Reagan. 155; T-12. Bailey Burgett, S.A. Brandeis, 155; T-12. John Luhrman, Spring Branch Smithson Valley, 155; 15. Paul Meints, Weslaco East, 156; T-16. Carlos Reyes, McAllen Memorial, 157; T-16. Kevin Pourasef, S.A. Churchill, 157; T-16. Buck Parker, New Braunfels (1), 157; T-19. Matthew McCarthu, New Braunfels (2), 158; T-19. Charles Gambrel, Del Rio, 158; T-21.Phillip Garza, Edinburg North, 159; T-21. Trenton L., New Braunfels (1), 159; T-21. Jason Lopez, New Braunfels (1), 159; T-21. Ruben Samaniego, Brownsville Hanna, 159.
Region IV-5A Golf Tournament
Final Day
Republic Golf Club, San Antonio
Boys
Team: 1. Alamo Heights, 581; 2. Austin Vandegrift (Black), 583; 3. Boerne Champion, 618; 4. Austin Vandegrift (Silver), 621; 5. S.A. Southside, 633; 6. Edinburg Vela, 636; 7. Mission Veterans Memorial, 649; 8. Victoria East, 656; 9. Edcouch-Elsa, 662; 10. Victoria West, 672; 11. Uvalde, 680; 12. Bastrop (1), 703; 13. Bastrop (2), 752; 14. Mercedes, 780; 15. S.A. Highlands, 842; 16. S.A. Edison, 851.
Individuals: 1. Colin Uecker, Kerrville Tivy, 140; T-2. Cooper Dossey, Austin Vandegrift (Black), 141; T-2. Mac Meissner, Alamo Heights, 141; 4. Levi Valdez, Alamo Heights, 142; T-5. Clayton King, Uvalde, 145; T-5. Angelo Leyvani, S.A. Edison, 145; T-5. Tobin Niblett, Austin Vandegrift (Black), 145; T-8. Diego Hernandez, Mission Veterans Memorial, 146; T-8. Charles Kim, Leander Cedar Park, 146; T-8. John Kellum, Alamo Heights, 146; T-11. Brandon Hoff, Austin Vandegrift (Black), 149; T-11. Skyler Young, Austin Vandegrift (Black), 149; 13. Foster Givens, Austin Vandegrift, 150; T-14. Jake Stevenson, Boerne Champion, 152; T-14. Parker Ray, Alamo Heights, 152; T-16. Obed Alvarado, S.A. Southside, 153; T-16. Thomas Winters, Marble Falls, 153; T-18. Harrison Hineline, Boerne Champion, 154; T-18. Adrian Saenz, Brownsville Porter, 154; T-20. Jakob Miller, Austin Vandegrift (Silver), 155; T-20. Daniel Martinez, Austin Vandegrift (Black), 155.; T-22. Chan Pham, Boerne Champion, 156; T-22. Jake Wittschiebe, Boerne Champion, 156; T-22. Anthony Perez, S.A. Southside, 156; T-22. Alberto Uriegas, Edinburg Vela, 156.