HURRICANE – Snow Canyon’s Tristan Gardner squeaked out the individual gold medal for Region 9 golf, edging past Pine View’s Jaden Milne and Lucas Schone in the final regular-season tournament of the year Monday.
Milne and Schone helped Pine View capture the team title (the Panthers’ third straight) by a slim margin over Desert Hills and Dixie. But it was Gardner, who won or tied for first in three of the last four tournaments, that came away with the individual honors.
“He’s an outstanding golfer,” Pine View coach Brooks Bergeson said. “I coached him when he was a freshman and sophomore I can tell you that on top of being an great golfer, he is also an outstanding person. Other than beating my two guys, I was happy for him.”
Schone, just a freshman and the younger brother of last season’s medalist, Noah Schone, actually led for the region gold going into the last two holes Monday, but faltered along the way with a couple of over-par scores. That enabled Gardner to tie Schone in the tourney and overtake Milne for the region championship.
“It was kind of wild, the way it finished,” Bergeson said. “Tristan didn’t play that well early in the season, so my two guys, Jaden Milne and Lucas Schone, pretty much led the region all season until this last tournament.”
Gardner and Schone ended up splitting the first- and second-place points at Sky Mountain (six for first, five for second), giving Gardner 37.5 points on the season, a half-point ahead of Milne and a full point ahead of Schone.
On the year, Gardner won three tournaments (Southgate, Sunbrook and Green Springs), tied for top honors at Sky Mountain and was in the top four in every other tourney.
Milne had victories at Sky Mountain (back in August) and at Cedar Ridge, while Schone took top honors at SunRiver and Cedar, plus Monday’s tie for first with Gardner.
The team title was almost as close as the individual race. Pine View ended up with a team average of 315.0, just ahead of the Thunder’s 315.6. Dixie’s third-place average was close as well at 316.4. Snow Canyon was fourth (329.8), Hurricane fifth (334.3), Cedar sixth (354) and Canyon View seventh (392.5).
“It all came down to the last tournament,” Bergeson said. “We have two boys, Jaden and Lucas, that we rely on heavily. They shot right around even or under every tournament. Other guys have stepped up to help us as well, including Smith Halley and Riley Taylor, and another freshman, Traton Staheli, has played well lately. We’ve needed his scores the last two tournaments.”
Second-place Desert Hills was led this season by Curtis Matheson and Will Stewart, while third-place Dixie was led by Brody Henderson and Jack Phillips.
The state 4A Tournament is next Wednesday and Thursday at Hurricane’s Sky Mountain Golf Course.
“It really helps us having it down here,” Bergeson said. “We’ve played a couple of tournaments at Sky Mountain and it’s always a plus to have the support of family and friends close to home.”
Bergeson said Park City will be the prohibitive favorite at state. The Miners are seven-time defending state champs. Other contenders for the title will be Bonneville and the trio of top teams from Region 9, Pine View, Desert Hills and Dixie.
The two-day state tournament begins Wednesday at 9 a.m. and will conclude Thursday afternoon.
Region 9 Team Scores (team, avg.)
1. Pine View 315.0
2. Desert Hills 315.6
3. Dixie 316.4
4. Snow Canyon 329.8
5. Hurricane 334.3
6. Cedar 354
7. Canyon View 392.5
Region 9 golf individual points (player, tm, pts, wins)
1. Tristan Gardner, Snow Canyon, 37.5 (4)
2. Jaden Milne, Pine View, 37.0 (2)
3. Lucas Schone, Pine View, 36.5 (3)
4. Jack Phillips, Dixie, 13
5. Brody Henderson, Dixie, 11
6. Will Stewart, Desert Hills, 9
7. Curtis Matheson, Desert Hills, 8.8
8. Jordan Newby, Desert Hills, 7.5
9. Stephen Larson, Dixie, 3.3
10. Zach Nelson, Desert Hills, 2.5
Note: points awarded as six for first place, five for second, four for third, three for fourth, two for fifth, and one for sixth. Ties split points for both places.
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