District Golf Roundup: Blancas, Montesano roar back to take district title

Also: Aberdeen’s McCracken added to state meet as alternate

Led by a dramatic comeback and victory by sophomore Hailey Blancas, the Montesano girls golf team emerged from the 1A District 4 Championship meet with a team title on Tuesday.

Down by five strokes with six holes to go, Blancas roared back to shoot an 81 — the lowest round of the tournament — and win the individual district title by two strokes over King’s Way Christian junior Gracie Harlow.

Blancas won the meet and league MVP honors with a two-day score of 170 (89-81) to repeat as district champion.

Harlow (86-86, 172), King’s Way Christian senior Riley Philbrook (94-85, 179), La Center junior Sabrina Joner (93-93, 186), Montesano senior Iza Cope (103-99, 202) and La Center junior Raegan Boyse (103-102, 205) rounded out the top six, which comprises the Southwest Washington 1A all-League First Team.

Twin Harbors golfers made up three of the four spots on the league’s Second Team. Hoquiam senior Minh Thi Butler (105-106, 211), Montesano freshman Maggi Kupka (117-106, 223), KWC senior Grace Taylor (112-111, 223) and Montesano freshman Audree Dohrmann (119-105, 224) placed 7-10 to earn Second Team honors.

Montesano won the team title with 79.5 points with KWC (66), La Center (33), Hoquiam (21) and Elma (8.5) rounding out the top five. The depth of Monte’s team made the difference as the Bulldogs were the only squad to have five players make the cut after Monday’s opening round.

“I am so proud of the girls,” Montesano head coach Doug Galloway said. “They really worked hard this year and were rewarded at the end of the year.”

Other local golfers to compete in the final round of the tournament were Montesano’s Jessie LaLonde (113-112, 225, 11th), Elma’s Camberly Burgess (112-116, 228 T-12th) and Hoquiam’s Cora Bisher (119-144, 263, 14th).

Local qualifiers now look ahead to the 1A State Championships Tuesday through Wednesday at the Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane.

Aberdeen’s McCracken added to state meet as alternate

Aberdeen’s Kaitlyn McCracken, who just missed the cut as one of the district’s top 17 golfers to compete at the state meet, will make a trip to state as one of the district’s three alternate golfers, according to the Aberdeen coaching staff on Wednesday.

The 2A State Championship girls golf meet is set for Tuesday through Wednesday at the Tumwater Valley Golf Club.