BLACKSHEAR — Brantley County Middle School’s Lady Herons tied for second and the Herons finished fourth Thursday in the Southeast Georgia Middle School Athletic Conference golf tournament here at the Okefenokee Golf & Country Club.
The Lady Herons’ March 13 finish was their best since being runnerup in 2002. They won the inaugural title in 2001.
Pierce County Middle School’s golf dominance continued with the Lady Bears and Bears each winning their seventh consecutive conference titles. The Lady Bears have captured 14 of the last 16 championships and 15 overall. The Bears won their 19 title in the last 22 years and 20th overall.
The Lady Bears’ Kadence Hale and Waycross Middle School’s Deacon Rafus claimed medalist honors. Hale, one of two golfers to break 50 in the girls’ match, posted a career-best score of 42 on the front nine. Rafus carded a three-overpar round of 39 over the back nine to top the boys’ field. Five other players broke 50.
The Lady Bears shot a two-person team score of 88 to win the March 20 six-team event. BCMS and Appling County Middle School tied for second with team scores of 112. Ware County Middle School finished fourth with a 126. Bethune Middle School followed with a 139 and Waycross Middle School totaled 141.
PCMS’s Rhayn Tompkins joined Hale in the sub-50 club with a 46 for the team score. Morgan Hull and Grayson Harris were next with nine-hole scores of 54.
The Lady Herons were led by Kelsi Steedley’s 51. Allie Gray and Raeleigh Gibson posted scores of 61 and 62 respectively.
Appling Middle was led by the 50 of Jayna Edenfield. The Lady Gators received a 54 from McKenzie Page. Anslee Dill paced Waycross Middle with a 66.
The Bears shot 190 for a 12-shot win over runner-up Waycross Middle. The Bulldogs were followed by Appling Middle (217), Brantley Middle (224), Ware Middle (228), Long County Middle School (240), Bacon County Middle School (250) and Bethune Middle (258).
The Herons’ Braxton Music and Owen Wildes tied for team honors with rounds of 54. Corey Selph shot 57 and Kase Crews 59 for the team score. Taylon Whitley finished with a 73 and Tyler Kelly shot 79.
Pierce Middle’s Will Higginson carded a career-best nine-hole score of 41. Appling Middle was led by Tucker Perry’s 48. Rhett Taylor was medalist for Ware Middle with a 44.
Long Middle was led by the 53 of Alexavior Exhevverria. Matthew Hyers recorded the lone sub-60 round for Bacon Middle finishing with a 54. Bethune Middle also had one sub-60 round with Ryne Turner’s 56.
