Coming into the beginning of October, the PHS golf team wrapped up their fall season with the 3A State Championship at the Rochelle Ranch Golf Course in Rawlins, Wyoming on September 20 and 21, 2024.
Powell came into the state tournament after barely falling short of the 3rd place spot in the 3A Western Conference Tournament by three strokes combined, following a one-stroke lead over them on the first day. This left the team with a bitter taste going into the final tournament of the year.
“The boys team finished 4th with two All-Conference players in Trey Scott and Cody Fisher,” math teacher and Head Golf Coach Mr. Troy Hildebrand said. “We were in a tight team race with Worland and Cody for 2nd, 3rd and 4th behind Lander and came up just three shots short of 3rd. The conditions were tough with two cold days and strong winds, but all of the players hung in there and had a solid weekend.”
State tournament play has some major differences over every other tournament in the season. Not only are the nerves high, but the competition is also much tougher. Pace of play is different, and there are scorers in each group that make for much less leniency.
“The nerves were way higher because there’s a lot more competition,” sophomore and Girls All-State Golf recipient Emery Hernandez said.“It went pretty good, just not as well as I thought it was gonna go, but it still went decent. [It was] Very windy, both days”
Hernandez had a 98-100 split for both days, solidifying herself the 10th place spot tied with one other player. She believes she could have done better, but was okay with the scores given the extremely windy conditions.
The teams were granted a practice round on the Thursday prior to the tournament. While this helped the players in strategizing for the real rounds and getting a feel for the course, it could also wear some players out a bit more given the long distance of Rawlins course.
“[the practice round] actually helped a lot because just kind of getting to see the course was really nice,” senior and All-State Golf recipient Trey Scott said. “Just to be able to think about what you can do on different holes in different scenarios.”
Scott believes that he shot either high 80s or low 90s in the practice round which is around 10 strokes above his average score through the season. He ended up shooting 84 the first day and an impressive 76 on the second to secure himself the eighth-place spot, tying him with two others.
Sophomore Cody Fisher was a combined 5 strokes short of the All-State honors and ended up placing 13th. Junior Coy Erickson missed the all-state honor just barely and placed a respectable 14th place.
“The boys finished 6th of 14 teams and the girls were 5th of 14,” Coach Hildebrand said. “As a team, we felt like this was a solid finish to our year and we did finish with two All-State players. Trey Scott put together the best 9 holes of his high school career to finish his round and work his way into an 8th place finish which was a tremendous finish to his four years with us. Emery Hernandez also worked her way into an All-State finish as a sophomore and along with Coy will give us a great foundation for a girls team next year.”
