Cats place fifth in Lovington Invite

Apr. 20—LOVINGTON — Clovis High's boys had four scores in the 80s on Thursday en route to a fifth-place finish in the Lovington Invite golf tournament.

Lovington shot 321 and edged Artesia by two strokes for team honors. Carlsbad was third at 341, followed by New Mexico Military 344, CHS 348 and Hobbs 350.

Senior Jett Stone led the Wildcats at 44-41 — 85, followed by senior Jacob Rowley 44-43 — 87 and sophomore Gavin Anderon at 45-42 — 87, freshman Jakob Stone 47-42 — 89 and eighth-grader Zak Spearman 49-45 — 94.

Clovis Christian senior Noah McKay was the third medalist at 42-37 — 79, while freshman Brock Teune came in at 44-43 — 87 for the Eagles. Portales' lone boys representative was Kaden Mauldin at 77-72 — 149.

CHS did not have anyone in the girls' field. Lovington ran away with that division at 329, followed by Carlsbad 392, Artesia 404, Hobbs 444, Dexter 453 and Gateway Christian 478.

Portales had three representatives in girls competition, with senior Cydnee Massey shooting 50-51 — 101, junior Adrienne Ruiz 50-56 — 106 and freshman Elizabeth Barlow 58-53 — 111.

Individual medalists for the day were NMMI's Mason Hicks for the boys with a 75, four over par, and Lovington's Aubrey Williams at 78.

RISD Invite (Monday, Tuesday) — The Cats made significant improvement (28 strokes) in the second round of the event, but couldn't get anybody hot and finished seventh in the 10-team field with a 36-hole total of 355-327 — 682.

The boys played the par 71 Spring River Golf Course on Monday and the par 72 New Mexico Military Course on Tuesday, while the girls went the opposite route.

Artesia and Silver finished in a tie for the boys' team title at 637. Roswell Goddard, which led the Colts by one shot and the Bulldogs by two after the first day at Spring River, shot its second consecutive round of 325 but dropped all the way to fourth behind Lovington (643).

Jett Stone paced Clovis for the second day in a row, shooting 40-40 — 80 to finish at 161. Other tallies had Anderson at 43-39 — 82 for a final total of 171, Jakob Stone at 42-40 — 82 to finish at 175, Spearman at 41-42 — 83 for a 175 two-day score and Rowley 47-45 — 92 to finish at 184.

Lovington took girls team honors at 343-326 — 669, overhauling first-day leader Deming and finishing 10 strokes ahead of the Lady Wildcats (336-343 — 679). Texico was sixth among the eight teams that finished the event at 403-398 — 801, while Clovis and Portales did not have full squads.

Texico senior Liz Elam shot 45-36 — 81 on Tuesday for a 165 total, good for sixth place individually. Also for the Lady Wolverines, sophomore Gabby De La Rosa posted a final-round 49-49 — 98 to finish at 196 while freshman Riley Fury came in at 62-63 — 125 on Tuesday for a final tally of 243.

Junior Sophie Schaap played in Monday's round for the Lady Wolverines, shooting 51-52 — 103, while senior Sierra Hunt rounded out the team tally on Tuesday at 52-42 — 94.

Sophomore Kylie Sprinkle led Clovis, shooting 45-41 — 86 on Tuesday for a 36-hole total of 175. Junior Kaleigh Maldonado went 46-54 — 100 in the second round to finish at 188, while senior Emilee Spears came in at 51-54 — 105 to finish at 223.

For Portales, Massey shot 206 (56-54 — 110 on Tuesday, Ruiz had 52-55 — 107 in the second round for a 220 total and Barlow came in at 62-56 — 118 on Tuesday for a 36-hole count of 227.

Texico's girls return to action on Monday in the Artesia Invite. The Lady Wolverines, CHS, PHS and Clovis Christian will participate the following day in the Wildcat Invite at Colonial Park Golf Course.