Marion wraps up in Mountain Home

Marion wraps up in Mountain Home

At a poker game in August 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down while holding a pair of aces and eights. You don’t always win with aces and eights and, as it was for Hickock, so it was for the Marion Patriot golf team. Marion had more than its fair share of eights on their scorecards, and it all led to a disappointing finish on Tuesday afternoon.

In a two-day, nine-team meet at the Mountain Home Invitational, the boys’ team finished ahead of only Harrison.

In truth, no team even came close to the ultimate winner and returning state champion, Jonesboro. The Hurricane finished ahead of second place, North Little Rock, by 48 strokes. Jonesboro had a team total of 591 which indicates a team average of just over 73 strokes per player per round.

The Patriots did have a couple of bright spots with its underclassmen. Sophomore Jacob Kohl shot a team best 79 on Monday but fell off the pace on Tuesday by returning a 94. Gavin Truitt, a sophomore who continues to show much improvement, shot a 94 on Monday and followed it with a 99 on Tuesday. Kohl and Truitt’s Monday scores were the only rounds turned in that anyone felt good about. Junior Conner Catt did not rise to his potential and shot an 89 followed by an 88. The team’s poor performance should give the Patriots a wake-up call to the amount of work they must put in if they hope to finish in the top half of the 6A state tournament.

As to the Ace, Senior Lady Patriot Christen Dykes pured a beautiful short iron to Big Creek’s 100 yard, #4 par three. The shot took one hop and smoothed out to a curling roll into the cup for her first-ever hole-in-one.

The hole features a twotiered green surrounded heavily by water and bunkers. This hole really offers no place to bail out. Everyone who witnessed the shot went crazy. Dykes and her opponent jumped up and down while hugging, screaming, and crying. Even Marion’s coach got a little misty when he ran onto the green to celebrate.

As to the team’s performance, the Lady Pats finished last in a five-way race. As with the boys tournament, the defending state champs, the Lady Hurricane, smoked the rest of the field. They finished 60 strokes ahead of second place Mountain Home. The entire 6A will be glad when this group of Jonesboro seniors graduate to open the field up to a new challenger. The Marion girls were led by Sophomore Sydney Massengale who turned in a 2-day total of 238.

The Patriots are next in action at Marion against Valley View on Tuesday afternoon.

By The Evening Times Sports Staff