Class 1A, District 13 Boys Golf: LCS Joins McKeel, All Saints at Regional
Tue. October 16, 2012 at 2:21 a.m. | By Polk Preps Staff
By BILL KEMP
LEDGER MEDIA GROUP
By now, Seth Miller's heartbeat has returned to normal.
The Lakeland Christian head coach watched his team edge Frostproof by two strokes in a sudden-death, one-hole playoff with the last automatic regional berth up for grabs on the 18th-hole Monday.
Lakeland Christian and Frostproof were deadlocked at 330 after 18 holes at River Greens Golf Course in Avon Park.
"This was one of those intense moments and I was kind of nervous for my boys. But they came through strong and stayed focused out there," said Miller, the first-year coach.
The Vikings will join Class 1A, District 13 champion McKeel Academy and runner-up All Saints' Academy at the Eagles Golf Club in Odessa on Oct. 23 for the Region 5 boys tournament.
McKeel's Cole Berger won the individual district championship, nailing down four birdies on the par 72, 6,400-yard course for a 1-under-par 71.
"I was two-putting all day and never once three-putted, which was a plus," Berger said.
McKeel won its second-consecutive district title and will head to Odessa later this week for a few practice rounds. The Wildcats finished seven strokes shy of a state finals berth last year.
"It was tough day for the most part, but they pulled through in the end," McKeel head coach Matt Francis said.
All Saints will make its fourth consecutive regional appearance after finishing with a 327 team score, 17 strokes behind McKeel.
In the early going, the Saints' top finisher Jared Wright (78) found himself frequently working from the hazard. But when he approached the eighth hole, he pulled out his driver, drove to green and two-putted for birdie.
"That kind of helped bring it back from where I was, and then I just kind of got into the groove of things," Wright said.
Frostproof's Rhett Pooley (74), Santa Fe's Chandler Hanson (81) and Lake Wales' Hunter Lerch (81) won individual regional berths.
