BELLINGHAM – A lot of people knew coming in that the Kamiak boys golf team had something special.
They capped off a stellar season Wednesday, holding off Ferris by six points to take home the state championship in the 4A state tournament at Shuksan Golf Club in Bellingham.
Sophomore Reid Martin finished tied for seventh place with a 143 total score (72-71) to lead the Knights. Brycen Finnie (73-76) and Dylan Goodwin (71-78) tied for 24th with a 149 combined score. Johnny Carry rounded out the Kamiak scoring with a 153 (75-78).
“All four were critical,” Kamiak coach Jeff Tobin said. “Nobody finished higher than seventh, but all four had good scores. Every one of them had to shoot the score he did or we wouldn’t have won. So that was really fun. They all knew they contributed so that was very special for them.”
Kamiak put itself in position to win the title when all four players made Tuesday’s cut. No other team in the field advanced as many players.
“We knew we had to get all four to the second day,” Tobin said. “But that didn’t guarantee anything. That just gave us a shot.
“Ferris finished second with two guys. We didn’t know where we stood until they posted the numbers.”
Then it was a lot of hugging, back-slapping and high-fiving.
“They realized they needed each other to make it happen,” Tobin said.
The state championship is the first in Kamiak school history for a boys team. The Knights’ girls team also won a state title Wednesday.
“We knew the girls were good,” Tobin said. “We kidded that it was kind of humbling being the second-best golf team at the school. But now we did it, too.”
The Knights wouldn’t have done it without their lone senior, Brycen Finnie, who was making his first state appearance – barely.
Finnie shot an 82 in the first round of the district meet and was in danger of not making the cut.
“I told him he needed to shoot a 75 and he went out and shot a 75,” Tobin said.
Then Finnie won a playoff for the all-important state berth.
On Tuesday and Wednesday he fired rounds of 73 and 76 to finish in a tie for 24th place.
Martin, who trailed by four strokes going into the final day, tired to make up ground, but Kevin Penner of Eastlake in Redmond wouldn’t budge, firing a 137 for the two-day event to take the individual championship.
Fifteen players finished within 10 strokes of the leader, including Snohomish’s Marcus Merisko, who shot a 147 (73-74) to finish tied for 15th.
At Shuksan Golf Club
36 holes, par 144
Team scores-1. Kamiak 71.5, 2. Ferris 65.5, 3. Snohomish 50, 4. Curtis 45, 5. Bellarmine Prep 42.5, 6. Kentridge 39.5, 7. Skyview 33, 8. Jackson 25, 9. Pasco 21, 10. Moses Lake 6.
Individual results-1. Penner (Eastlake) 68-69-137, 2. Jones (Ferris) 70-70-140, T3. Jun (Beamer) 73-68-141, T3. Cho (Kentridge) 70-71-141, T3. Bordeaux (Bellarmine Prep) 70-71-141, 6. Boag (Eisenhower) 67-75-142, T7. Martin (Kamiak) 72-71-143, T7. White (Curtis) 72-71-143, T7. Newton (Tahoma) 71-72-143, T7. Robb (Centra Valley) 70-73-143.
Also-T15. Merisko (Snohomish) 73-74-147, T18. Young (Jackson) 75-73-148, T18. Epstein (Monroe) 73-75-148, Brown (Snohomish) 72-76-148, T24. Finnie (Kamiak) 73-76-149, Goodwin (Kamiak) 71-78-149, T32. Carey (Kamiak) 75-78-153.
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