Brophy, Pinnacle's Wright earn top honors in D-I boys golf

October 29, 2011 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


More of Pinnacle's Zach Wright was just too much. So was more steady play from Brophy Prep.

Wright, a senior, followed up an opening-round 62 with a 63 to win the Division I boys state golf tournament by five shots at Dell Urich Golf Course in Tucson.

Wright's total of 125 was15-under par. Wright has committed to LSU for golf and closed out his prep career in as fine a fashion as one could imagine. I*n Wright's previous three state tournament appearances he finished tied for 6th in 2008, second in 2009 and tied for fifth in 2010. Runner-up to Wright individually was Independence's Anthony Quezada. Quezada shot 63 on Friday and 67 on Saturday for his 130 total. Third was Hamilton's Ken Iida (134) and fifth was Desert Vista's Cody McManus (136).

Brophy, which had a one-shot lead over Desert Vista after the first round, topped the Thunder to claim the team title at 561. Desert Vista finished with 564. Tying for third was last year's champion, Red Mountain, and Hamilton. Both totaled 565. It was Brophy's first team title in golf since 1999.

Twelve players in the field shot par or better, although overall teams scores were higher on Saturday with a tougher layout. Tyler Kerston paced Brophy with a score of 135 (fourth overall). Kerston's first-round 66 included a hole-in-one. Shooting even par for Brophy for the tournament was Ryan Theisen (140). Timmy Shimon (143) and Blake Toolan (144) scored each day for the Broncos. Austin Tymins (145) was Brophy's fifth. The highest round of any Brophy golfer was 73.

DIVISION II  BOYS

Canyon del Oro won its second consecutive Division II boys golf crown shooting a two-day total of 591 to best Salpointe by 26 strokes in the seven-team field at the Randolph North Golf Course in Tucson.

Canyon del Oro's Jaime Waltimire and Cactus' Kale Davidson, both two shots behind first-round leader Logan France (CDO), shot 70s in the final round to tie for medalist honors at 142. Waltmire gained individual honors after beating Davidson on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff by birdeying the third playoff hole.

Waltmire was second individually at the 2010 D-II state meet. CDO teammate Jack Otis tied for ninth at 149 completing the Dorados who finished in the top 10.

 Queen Creek's Ajay Wilson was third (145) and France tied for fourth (146) with Catalina Foothills Andrew Gunn.

Thunderbird was two shots back of Salpointe to take third and Catalina Foothills placed fourth.

DIVISION II GIRLS

Salpointe's move from Division I to Division II spelled two titles Saturday afternoon as Krystal Quihuis' 74 and two-day total of 2-under led the Lancers to their first-ever girls golf title, in the Division II state tournament at Aguila Golf Course.

Quihuis, a sophomore, finished at 142. Her 68 on Friday led the tournament and she maintained that lead edging out Cactus Shadows Abbie Cantwell by six shots. Cantwell shot 75-73. Salpointe placed three golfers in the top 10 with Tess Terry and Brianna Vogel the other Lancers in that group. Finishing third overall was Canyon del Oro's Morgan Messick (149) and fourth was Scottsdale Christian's Hannah Gerald ((154).

Salpointe finished with the top team score of the day (311) and totaled 626 for the tournament. Notre Dame was a distant second at 664. The Saints were paced by Kelsie Sanborn, who placed 8th at 159.