Northern Kentucky golfers competed in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association regional tournaments on Sept. 21 and 22. The top teams and individuals qualified for the KHSAA State first-round tournament at the Kenton County Willows course, the boys teeing off on Sept. 28 and the girls a day later.
Which local golfers conquered the Region 7 and 8 tournaments and will compete at state? See the boys and girls regional results and state qualifiers below.
KHSAA Region 7 boys golf results
Covington Catholic and Ryle were already state qualifiers, finishing as the top pair of teams. The Colonels and Raiders needed a playoff, however, to determine the championship because they tied atop the leaderboard with
310s. The Colonels, led by individual regional winner Matt Noe, who shot a 73 over the day, won the playoff and the tournament.
The Raiders finished second, led by Hayden Li, the individual runner-up, with a 74 and James Chandler, who shot a 75 and tied for third with top individual qualifier Jack Woolwine from Dixie Heights.
Teammate Lucas Powers followed Woolwine by a stroke as an individual qualifier. Oliver Niehaus, who shot an 80 for Dixie Heights, also qualified. Dixie Heights finished with a 320 team score, taking third and missing the playoff for a state berth by 10 shots. The top two teams and top 10 individuals not on those teams qualify for the state first round.
Besides the Dixie Heights trio, other individual qualifiers from the region were Cooper's Jarett Turner (77), Walton-Verona's Adam Gutman (78) and Jacob Gore (81), St. Henry's Parker Isaacs (79), Beechwood's Kayden Sautter (79) and Simon Kenton's Cole Burris (80) and Nolan Stone (80).
KHSAA Region 8 boys golf results
A day before the Region 7 boys teed off their regional, the Region 8 boys played their rounds at Pendleton Hills.
Highlands cruised to the team championship with a 322, 19 shots batter than Newport Central Catholic's 341 to finish in second and also reach state. The Thoroughbreds had a five-shot cushion over Bishop Brossart, taking third with a 346, and an eight-shot lead over fourth-place Henry County.
Bracken County sophomore won with a 75, besting NewCath's Evan Himmelsbach by two shots. The next four spots on the leaderboard went to Highlands Bluebirds, led by 80s from James Kuhn and Devin Massie.
Bishop Brossart's Collin Parks (82) and Derek Bezold (83) as well as Campbell County's Bryson Guidugli (86) were local individual qualifiers.
KHSAA Region 7 girls golf results
The race for the top two team spots was mighty close. Notre Dame shot a 353, taking first, but Conner and Ryle were right behind with 357s and St. Henry carded a 358. Conner won the tiebreaker, sending the Cougars to state.
St. Henry's Reese Anthony was the best on the individual leaderboard with a 72, besting runner-up Elizabeth Dickson of Ryle with a 74, Notre Dame's Maria Penaranda with a 76 and Conner's Sophia Seals with a 78.
Anthony and Dickson played themselves into state as individual qualifiers, as did Anthony's St. Henry teammate Ari Burton (84) and Dickson's Ryle teammates Aubrey Hayes (85) and Lacey Wilson (91). Other qualifiers were Boone County's Jayden Ramler (84), Cooper's Kendall Williams (84) and Annabelle Woltenberg (91), Walton-Verona's Addison VonHandorf (89) and Dixie Heights' Georgia Albrinck (90).
KHSAA Region 8 girls golf results
Region 8 went to Owen County, which had a 386, two shots better than runner-up Gallatin County. Owen County junior Lexi Chappell tied Pendleton County's Taylor Bruener atop the leaderboard with an 82.
Bruener and teammate Kinly Cooper, who had a 94, were individual state qualifiers. Locals qualifying with them were Campbell County's Ella Pompilio (91), Grant County's Braelynn Burgan (97) and Kameron Lanich (104) and Lauren Utz (105) both of Highlands.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Northern Kentucky's boys, girls KHSAA state golf tournament qualifiers
