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Warriors make it eight straight

For a number of players, the weather was miserable to the point that the game became just a round of grip-it and rip-it. For 18 holes at Greene Hills, the players in the Jefferson District tournament endured relentless rain, varying from a light haze at times to an all-out down pour, leaving the course slow and sloppy. But for a good deal of players, the rain was manageable. In the end, it was Western Albemarle, led by medalist Alex O’Dell, who scooped up the tournament title to help make it the eighth straight time the school has done so.

“We really wanted to play well today and get some momentum as we head into regionals,” said Warriors coach Darren Maynard. “We had a goal in mind of shooting in the 290s and we came very close to doing that so I’m pretty pleased with where we are right now.”

O’Dell was the only golfer on the day to finish at even par, and did so with a hot start to the day as he earned three birdies on holes two, three and four. Last year’s JD player of the year was able to put the ball on the green with relative ease, something he confessed he struggled with last week on the same course. And when he was on the green, the junior took care of business with his putter.

“I had a couple of bad putts, but for the most part the putting was really good today,” O’Dell said. “I made a couple of bombs for par and then had a lot of solid two-putts. I would have liked a few more on the back nine, but it was still the best part of my game today.”

However, as good as O’Dell was, there wasn’t much wiggle room between himself and second and third place. Teammates Scott Wakely and Brett Engle each shot 3-over 75 earn a tie for third place. Landon Weis rounded out the scoring for the Warriors with his 5-over 79. To make it a clean sweep of the day, Engle and O’Dell were named co-Jefferson District players of the year and Maynard took the coaching honors. A first or second place showing in the Region II tournament would give Western it’s fourth straight Group AA appearance.

“We were excited before the season began with all the players he had back,” Engle said. “It’s always a lot of fun traveling around with this group. We lost a great player in Patrick Leisure, but Kent Miller has really stepped in and helped us out. Everyone else is back and I think we all improved a lot over the summer.”

Last week the Warriors received a healthy challenge from Monticello in a JD mini-match. The Mustangs finished that day just two strokes behind Western, and on Monday they earned their third straight Region II bid by finishing second, 16 back of the Warriors, but five strokes ahead of third place William Monroe.

“We’re very excited about heading to this tournament again,” said Monticello coach Pam Bradley. “These kids worked so extremely hard to get to this point and we’re very proud of them. Today they had to deal with elements and I thought they did a great job of rising to the occasion.”

Michael Comer and Evan Childress led the way for the Mustangs as they each put forth solid rounds of 4-over 76. Childress, a junior, was able to eagle the fourth hole when he holed his second shot using a 5-iron from 200 yards out.

“That was definitely the highlight of the day for me,” said Childress who earned a Group AA bid last year. “I’d love to get back to that tournament and do a little bit better this year for sure.”

Kevin Archer and Carson Wilmer contributed the other two scores with respective scores of 9-over 81 and 12-over 84 and with Alex Simko and Whitney Pace just outside the scoring, the Mustangs are banking on this pool of talent guiding the team a week deeper into the season than last year.

“Making states is definitely the goal,” Comer said. “When you leave the Jefferson District there’s a lot more competition so you’ve got to be sure to go out there and play your very best.”

While the entire Western and Monticello teams will advance to the Region II tournament on Tuesday at South Riding in Fairfax, six individual players will join them.

Making use of the home course advantage, William Monroe’s Dave Chonoles was the third member of the 4-way tie for seventh overall with a 76 and will be joined by teammate Austin Batten who shot a pair of 39s on the front and back to earn a 6-over 78.

The fourth person in the big tie near the top of the board was Orange’s Zach Yowell, who rode a strong showing on the front nine to earn his 76 and a regional nod. Goochland’s Trent Dankos had eighth overall to himself advanced with his 5-over 77. Rounding out the Region II qualifiers were Louisa County’s Brady Noland and Fluvanna County’s Alex Preganz.

All participants in the tournament will get a chance to play a practice round at South Riding on Sunday before the tournament begins on Tuesday.

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