Brock boys defend state title
Eagles’ gold team soars to 17-shot win in Class 3A tourney.
Brock High School is so powerful in golf that it qualified two teams for the UIL Class 3A boys tournament at Grey Rock Golf Club this week. The Eagles’ gold team proved the class of the field, romping to a 17-shot victory by the tournament’s close on Thursday.
Brock Gold shot 321-303 over 36 holes, good for a 48-over-par total of 624. Troup was a distant runner up at 641 while Wall (648) placed third.
The girls tournament, which included Lago Vista as the lone Austin-area qualifier, had not concluded by Thursday evening. The Lago Vista girls were in 12th place after the opening round on Wednesday.
On the boys side, Lago Vista finished fifth at 703.
Brandon Johnson and Jacob Hernandez each totaled a 23-over 167 to post the best scores for the Vikings while Derek Haines, the younger brother of University of Texas safety Dylan Haines, carded the lowest score (79) for Lago Vista in the final round and ended up at 170.
“We were 27 shots out of the chance to win a medal after the first day, but we thought if we could have a really great day that we might be able to get as high as fourth,” said Lago Vista coach Bryan Rogers. “We were seventh here last year and finishing fifth is our bestever result at state. We have a lot to be happy about.”
The Brock gold team and Troup were tied for the boys lead after the first round on Wednesday, but the Brock squad improved on its first day by 18 strokes while Troup bettered itself by just one shot.
The championship was the second straight for Brock, which qualified only one team for the 2015 Class 3A tournament.
Will Holcomb V of Crockett was far and away the best golfer on the course Wednesday and Thursday, mastering the tricky track with an even-par 144 to earn boys medalist honors.
Three players tied for second at 150: Colton Hilburn of Merkel, Nikolas Kerasopoulos of Cameron Yoe and Preston McGinty of Bruceville-Eddy.
Hilburn outlasted Kerasopoulos in a sudden-death playoff to earn the silver medal. McGinty missed out on the the playoff after he had already started his trip home.