By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WAMEGO -- Washburn Rural's golf team didn't have a bad day Thursday in its invitational tournament at Wamego Country Club.
It's just there were other teams that had a better one.
Jared Goehring's Junior Blues had three players in the 70s en route to a four-man score of 308, but that was only good enough for a third-place team finish in the 11-school event as Blue Valley ran away with the team title by a 294-304 margin over runner-up Blue Valley Northwest.
"We just ran up against a very competitive field,'' Goehring said. "Conditions started tough today and we didn't get off to the best of starts, but we finished. It's the way the ball bounces and we just didn't make enough putts today,
"Tip your hat to Blue Valley and Blue Valley Northwest. They put up some good scores.''
Luke Leonetti
Junior Luke Leonetti paced Washburn Rural, shooting a 74 to finish sixth individually, while juniors Giles Frederickson and Turner Depperschmidt both added 77s.
The Junior Blues also got 80s from Cole Kucera and Joe Morse while Tyler Higgins shot an 83.
Thursday showed Goehring that the Junior Blues still have work to do, but he thinks his team can sitll be a Class 6A contender by season's end.
"We need some guys, that are very capable at the top of our lineup, to prove to people that they are capable of going a little bit lower,'' Goehring said. "We've got three guys capable of being around par. They didn't have their best stuff today, but that's golf.''
Leonetti was one of three city medalists in Thursday's tournament, with sophomore Alex Valdivia of Shawnee Heights and freshman Myles Alonzo of Topeka West both shooting 75s to finish eighth and ninth.
Alonzo made his high school debut Thursday while Valdivia is also in his first year of high school golf after missing the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
Michael Winslow of St. Thomas Aquinas and Blue Valley's Nate Salts both shot 71s Thursday, with Winslow winning with a better back-nine score.
WASHBURN RURAL INVITATIONAL
Team scores
Blue Valley 294, Blue Valley Northwest 304, Washburn Rural 308, Olathe West 311, St. Thomas Aquinas 312, Manhattan 321, Shawnee Heights 334, Washburn Rural (Blue) 335, Free State 337, Emporia 341, Wamego 345.
Individual results
1. Michael Winslow, St. Thomas Aquinas, 71 (won scorecard playoff); 2. Nate Salts, Blue Valley, 71; 3. Eoin McLaughlin, Blue Valley 73 (won scorecard playoff); 4. Rohan Desai, Blue Valley Northwest, 73; 5. Chance Rinkel, Blue Valley, 73; 6. Luke Leonetti, Washburn Rural, 74; 7. Ian McCrary, Blue Valley Northwest, 75 (won scorecard playoff); 8. Alex Valdivia, Shawnee Heights, 75; 9. Myles Alonzo, Topeka West, 75; 10. Caden Massey, Emporia, 76.
Other Washburn Rural -- Giles Frederickson 77, Turner Depperschmidt 77, Cole Kucera 80, Joe Morse 80, Tyler Higgins 83.
Other Shawnee Heights -- Kyler Ortiz 74, Aiden Jones 84, Ethan Rottinghaus 91, Tyler Peterson 97, Tanner Zerger 99.
Other Topeka West -- Jacob Jachens 95.
Washburn Rural (Blue) -- Luke Rothfuss 78, Nibi Kulkarni 80, Landon Bradstreet 87, Maddox Hight 90, Gabe Kastner 98, Reid Hughes 99.
Washburn Rural (Individuals) -- Cam Zimlich 95, Hayden Glynn 97.
