Ironton golf enjoyed strong season

It was a great year for both the girls’ and boys’ teams.

Our girls golf team competed in the OVC Championship at Esquire Golf Course.

They finished 2nd with a team score of 366, which is the lowest team score (boys or girls) that our program has achieved since Nathan Kerns and Corey McKnight have been the coaches.

Junior Sidnea Belville and senior Mary Lackey earned first team All-OVC honors.

Sidnea shot a 79, and Mary shot an 88 to earn their place on the team, Freshman Sarah Murdock shot a 94 to receive honorable mention All-OVC honors.

Ironton girls golf qualified for the district golf tournament for the first time in school history by finishing 3rd in the sectional tournament with a score of 441.

Belville led the way on an extremely difficult golf course with a 95-finishing 4th out of 82 golfers.

The district was played at Pickaway Country Club.

While they didn’t get the results they wanted, Belville shot a 90 which was 9th out of 59 golfers.

Our boys golf team competed in the OVC Championship at the Portsmouth Elks.

They finished 4th with a team score of 359, the lowest team score that our program has achieved since Nathan and Corey became the coaches.

Sophomore Hunter Freeman earned first team All-OVC with a score of 80. Freshman Carson Blankenship shot an 88 to earn honorable mention All-OVC.

The boys played the sectional tournament at the Elks in Portsmouth. The team shot a 377 to finish in 7th place.

Our team did not advance to districts, but two individuals earned a spot, Hunter Freeman and junior Chaydan Kerns.

Only the top 5 teams and the top five individuals not on a qualifying team earn a spot.

Hunter was the number one qualifier shooting an 85, and Chaydan was the 5th qualifier with an 89.

Chaydan earned his spot in a playoff when he sunk a 25-foot putt on the fifth playoff hole.

They are the first Ironton qualifiers for the districts since 2017.

Our two individuals went to Crown Hill Golf Club in Williamsport to play in the district golf tournament. The course played really hard.

Hunter shot an 87 and finished 18th out of 60 golfers. Chaydan shot a respectable score of 100 on an extremely hard course.

The future is bright for the Ironton Golf program as several of the lowest scoring players (both boys and girls) are underclassmen.

These athletes worked hard all during the season but even harder during the offseason. Champions are made during the offseason and with golf, even more so.

Thanks to the coaches for their hard work with the team and all their efforts to make sure these players had everything they needed to be successful.

Larry Davis

Ironton