LIBERAL — Great Bend Panther Cole Streck earned ninth medalist honors (85) at Tuesday’s Liberal Invitational to earn honorable mention All-WAC golf honors at Liberal Country Club.
Panther 14th-place finisher Brantley Baldwin (87) was a few points shy of honorable mention behind improved play late in the season. The Panthers (365) finished fifth (365) with a higher score than recent tournaments. Ishmael Rodriguez (92) and Cal Dunekack (101) also counted.
“Scores indicate that it played fairly difficult,” said Great Bend coach Travis McAtee. “Overall, we had a tough day. Our scores were higher than what we’ve been shooting lately, so we’re disappointed with our play.”
The Panthers’ 5A regional will be played Monday at Liberal’s Willow Tree Golf Course.
“We’re in a tough regional, but we hope to play up to our potential individually and collectively,” McAtee said.
Hays High dethroned Garden City as the WAC team champion based on five meets that WAC teams compete in. Garden City won the Liberal Invite (324) by three strokes over Hays High (327).
Hays High’s Tragdon McCrae parred the first playoff after tying Garden City’s Sion Audrain to earn medalist honors and capture WAC Player of the Year honors. Garden City’s Taylor Larsen (2014, 2016), Dan Gaspar (2015) and Audrain (2017) had swept the past four WAC Player of the Year honors.
LIBERAL INVITATIONAL
Liberal CC
TEAM SCORES—1—Garden City 324; 2—Hays High 327; 3—Liberal 343; 4—Dodge City 347; 5—Great Bend, 365 (9—Streck 41-44—85; 14—Brantley Baldwin 45-42—87; 18—Ishmael Rodriguez 45-47—92; 25—Cal Dunekack 54-47—101; 28—Jayson Effertz 51-52—103; 30—Grant Keller 65-54—119)
TOP 10 MEDALISTS—1—Tradgon McCrae, Hays, 39-37—76 (par); 2—Sion Audrain, GC, 35-41—76 (bogey); 3—Cameron Riley, Liberal, 40-37—77; 4—Josh Norris, Hays, 37-42—79; 5—Aaron Schafer, GC, 39-41—80; 6—Luke Gleason, DC, 37-44—81; 7—Allen Zollinger, HH, 43-38—81; 8—Mason Shaddix, GC, 39-43—82; 9—Cole Streck, GB, 41-44—85; 10—Ethan Goertzen, DC, 44-42—86