Two local freshmen girls place well at 3A/4A state golf matches

PHS boys golf team advances two to the second day

Marques Hunter

of the gateway

Two freshmen — Peninsula’s Rachel Lewis and Gig Harbor’s Christie Drumm — had the best performances from the boys and girls teams during the Class 4A and 3A state golf tournaments last weekend.

Lewis placed seventh and Gig Harbor’s Christie Drumm tied for 16th.

Lewis advanced to the second day of the tournament at Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland, Wash., by shooting an 83.

She caught fire the second day — moving into seventh place — by shooting a 76 with three birdies, all of which came in the back nine. She finished with a two-day score of 159.

“It was the first time I ever broke 80,” Lewis said. “It was really exciting to do that at state.”

Peninsula golf coach Larry Gilhuly said it was one of the best performances by a Peninsula girl at the state competition.

“I loved the course,” Lewis said. “I had a wonderful time. I couldn’t have asked for a better tournament.”

Katrina Hegge of Seattle Prep won the girls 3A competition with a two day total of 139.

As for Gig Harbor’s young talent, Drumm got off to a mediocre start by also shooting an 83 on the first day. However, she had the best turnaround in the 4A state competition. Drumm improved her second-day score by 10 shots with a 73.

It moved her into a three-way tie as the 16th best golfer in the 4A tournament.

“I don’t know what happened but I was just feeling a lot better the second day,” Drumm said.

She added there was more pressure the first day, because of the 40-person cut. On the second day, however, she finished 2 over on the front and 1 under on the back.

“I just got more practice with the course and knew what to expect,” Drumm said about her second-day performance. “There were some challenging holes but I enjoyed it a lot.”

Gig Harbor girls golf coach Julie Barnett said she could sense that Drumm was frustrated the first day.

She made a dramatic change in her game during the second day for a two-day finish of 156.

“I counted eight times she was shooting for birdie,” Barnett said about her golf game the second day. “I think she was just thrilled with herself.”

Both freshman girls had career-best performances on the second day of the state golf tournament.

Chessey Thomas of Lewis and Clark won the girls 4A competition with a two-day total of 139.

PHS Boys advance two to second day

After advancing four to the state golf tournament, two PHS golfers qualified for the finals to help the team finish 12th in the state.

Peninsula junior Joey McNelis shot rounds of 70-78 to finish in a tie for 28th. Senior Kevin Keiter followed with a 79-91 for a 40th place finish.

Although Peninsula senior captain Chris Bean failed to qualify to the second day – he missed the cut by two strokes with an 83 – he finished second at the Egber’s Invitational last month and beat or tied the state champions in 4A, 2A and 1A classifications this season by shooting a 71-69.