By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The battle for the Centennial League individual boys golf title went down to a sudden death playoff Monday at Lake Shawnee, but no matter how the playoff came out it was going to be a victory for Washburn Rural.
Washburn Rural sophomore Tagan Monasmith shot a 74 Monday and won the Centennial League title in a sudden death playoff. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Bryan Tyrell shot a 74 and finished second in a sudden death playoff, helping the Junior Blues win the Centennial League title by a 21-stroke margin. [Photo by Trevo
Washburn Rural's golf team poses for a team picture after winning the Centennial League title by 21 strokes Monday at Lake Shawnee. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
It was that kind of day for the Junior Blues.
Washburn Rural regained the league championship after a brief one year's absence by a dominating 21-stroke margin over 2022 champ Manhattan and added a 14 stroke win over St. James Academy in the Midwest Varsity Classic.
Individually, Rural sophomore Tagan Monasmith and senior teammate Bryan Tyrell both shot 74s to force a playoff for the championship in both events, which Monasmith won on the first extra hole, but both players agreed that the fact that it was an all-Rural showown made it a little easier to accept the outcome no matter which way it went.
"I didn't really think about it too much,'' Monasmith said. "I knew either way, that's my boy, so win or lose it was definitely going to be a good day.''
Tyrell agreed.
"It's fun to compete and especially when it's your teammate, it's fun,'' Tyrell said.
Rural senior Andrew Burdett was just a stroke behind his teammates at 75 to tie for third in the Centennial League while senior Tyler Baumchen shot a 76 to finish fifth and junior Hayden Glynn tied for sixth with a 79.
Monday was the first time that Jared Goehring's Junior Blues were able to beat Manhattan this spring, which was an added bonus for Rural.
"Finally,'' Monasmith said. "Coach was pretty happy about that one.''
"We had a lot of pretty good scores throughout the year but we just couldn't put four scores together,'' Tyrell said. "But today we showed we could put four scores together and we beat them.''
Goehring said that Monday's performance was a big momentum boost for the Junior Blues.
"Crunch time is here and postseason golf is about a week away and we feel like we're playing some of our better golf of the season,'' Goehring said. "It was a team goal for us to break 300 and we accomplished that today (at 299) and that's good momentum moving forward.''
Hayden sophomore Tagen Rodriguez earned the 11th-place medal with an 83 while Topeka High junior Rich Helmbold tied for 12th (84), Hayden senior Noah Haverkamp tied for 14th (85) and Topeka High senior Luis Muniz Rodriguez tied for 16th (86).
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE
At Lake Shawnee Golf Course
Team scores
Washburn Rural 299, Manhattan 320, Emporia 335, Hayden 343, Topeka High 352, Junction City 384.
Individual results
1. Monasmith, Washburn Rural, 74 (won playoff); 2. Tyrell, Washburn Rural, 74; 3. (tie) Burdett, Washburn Rural, and Massey, Emporia, 75; 5. (tie) Baumchen, Washburn Rural, 76; 6. (tie) Powers, Manhattan, and Glynn, Washburn Rural, 79; 8. (tie) Braxmeyer, Manhattan, and Reid, Manhattan, 80; 10. Hull, Manhattan, 81; 11. Rodriguez, Hayden, 83; 12. (tie) Helmbold, Topeka High, and Siebert, Manhattan, 84; 14. (tie) Hurley, Junction City, and Haverkamp, Hayden, 85; 16. Johnson, Emporia; Jacob, Emporia, and Muniz Rodriguez, Topeka High, 86.
Hayden -- Kuta 87, Gorman 88, Scott 94, Borjon 99.
Topeka High -- Pavlik 90, Cleverdon 92, Schmidt 93, Everhart 99.
MIDWEST VARSITY CLASSIC
Team scores
Washburn Rural 299, St. James Academy 313, Manhattan 320, St. Thomas Aquinas 321, Bishop Miege 324, Emporia 335, Hayden 343, Topeka High 352, Junction City 384, Eudora 414.
Individual results
1. Monasmith, Washburn Rural, 74 (won playoff); 2. Tyrell, Washburn Rural, 74; 3. (tie) Burdett, Washburn Rural, and Massey, Emporia, 75; 5. (tie) Baumchen, Washburn Rural, and Jack Winkler, Bishop Miege, 76; 7. Davis, St. James Academy, 77; 8. (tie) White, St. Thomas Aquinas; Alters, St. James Academy, and Hines, St. James Academy, 78.
