Yang's 67 Leads Wharton To Class 2A-Region 4 Title
Published: Oct 23, 2007
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TAMPA - Wharton junior standout Shena Yang said by the time she completed the sixth hole Monday at Heritage Isles, she knew it was going to be a good day. Her exploits at the 14th hole only emphasized it.
Yang hit her tee shot at the par-4 14th into the water. However, she took her drop, hit her approach to within 10 feet and walked off the green with a par, a series of strokes that "amazed" playing partner Amy West of Durant.
Yang followed that par with a birdie at No. 15, her fifth birdie in a nine-hole span that started at the par-5 seventh, and she completed a bogey-free round in the Class 2A-Region 4 tournament at 5-under 67, the best round of her career.
"I was hoping for a bogey-free round, and I was happy that it was like that," said Yang, who bested West by six strokes to capture medalist honors. "I worked really hard for this and it's really paid off. Hopefully I can shoot less at states."
Wharton junior Christina Vail also turned in a career-best 85, while teammates Brittany Bradshaw (92) and Katherine Demich (93) followed with solid rounds to help the Wildcats win the region title with a team-total 337, clinching the program's second consecutive trip to the state tournament.
Plant, led by Bryce Alley's 78, also punched its ticket to the 2A tournament next week at The Club at Eaglebrooke in Lakeland by shooting a team-total 357 to finish as the region runner-up. MacKenzie Puryear (81), Genevieve King (92) and Kaitlin McPeak (106) rounded out Plant's scorecard. It is the Panthers' first trip to state since 2003.
Finally, Durant's West, one of the hottest golfers in Hillsborough County, also will move on to state as an individual qualifier by way of her runner-up finish. West, coming off a 4-under 68 last week at Walden Lake to claim district medalist honors, finished at 1-over 73, one stroke better than Sickles freshman Alex Milan, the third member of the group that included Yang and West.
Plant Boys Earn Return Trip To State
NEW PORT RICHEY - After taking one look at all the water, and spending one minute in the breezy conditions Monday morning at Fox Hollow Golf Club, Plant coach Mike James knew it wasn't a day to go low.
But even though his team wasn't accustomed to playing on such a challenging course, James liked how the 6,801-yard layout set up for his group of long hitters, who were used to winning.
He was proven right, as Doug Letson (75), Charles Silverfield (79), Cory Castillo (79) and Carter Illgenfritz (82) combined to shoot 215, winning the Class 2A-Region 4 tournament by four strokes and advancing to the state tournament for the second consecutive year.
"My guys really stuck with it," James said. "They grinded it out, and that's what good teams do. We were just trying to avoid the blow-up."
Sudden-death playoffs decided the individual winner and team runner-up, both of which advanced to state. Riverview sophomore Ian McConnell, who Coach Ron Slater described as "a surgeon at work," won with a 75, beating Letson with a par on the first playoff hole (No. 10). East Lake defeated Palm Harbor University with two pars and two bogeys on the same hole.
McConnell birdied two of the last three holes in regulation to force the playoff. On the 18th hole, a 445-yard par 4 with water just off both sides of the fairway, McConnell was tied with Blake's Rick Kittelstad and King's Chris Biuso at 5-over.
McConnell hit a 5-iron from 186 yards to 6 feet, and sank the left-to-right putt for birdie.
Bart O'Connell
GIRLS CLASS 1A-REGION 3: Academy at the Lakes' Alexandra Irish and Saddlebrook Prep's girls team both took second at Inverness Golf and Country Club.
Inverness Citrus won its first regional by edging Saddlebrook by two strokes, 330-332.
Irish tied for first with Citrus' Brianna Carlson and Ocala St. John's Lutheran's Kristine Odaiyar, all with 75s. In a sudden-death playoff, Carlson bogeyed and took third. Odaiyar had par-birdie while Irish shot par-par to finish second and take the final individual spot.
Larry Bugg
