All season, Eastlake has shown itself as a golf team to be reckoned with in the gauntlet that is 4A KingCo.
On Tuesday on the Coyote Creek course at Willows Run, they put an emphatic seal of approval on a year that is far from over.
Freshman Maddie Nelson outlasted junior Jamie Midkiff on the first playoff hole to win the district title one day after Midkiff ran away with the 4A KingCo championship as Ashley Fitzgibbons also finished in the top five on day two to give Eastlake district title, nearly doubling the day-two score of rival Redmond.
All three also earned one of 13 spots from the league in the 4A state tournament in two weeks at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver.
“Ashley and I were both pretty excited,” Nelson said, referring to her fellow freshman. “We knew we had a good chance and we’re glad we made it.”
The first day’s scoring went to decide the team and individual champions for 4A KingCo, and after the field was cut, the 36 remaining players added their day two scores to decide the district champs and 13 state qualifiers.
Midkiff bested Issaquah sophomore Mersadie Tallman by a single stroke to win medalist honors for the conference tournament, with Nelson two strokes off the pace in third.
“I hit a lot of fairways and things were just going my way,” Midkiff said of her first round.
On the second day, Nelson and Midkiff both finished with a combined score of 154, sending the duo to a playoff before the freshman eventually captured the title and began the preparations for state.
Tallman shot 81 on day two to finish third for the Eagles and earn their only spot in the state field, and Fitzgibbons carded the lowest score of the afternoon at 76 to finish in fifth.
Gutsy Vowels gets two more weeks
Brya Vowels could feel the harsh reality sinking in.
After finishing the first day of the tournament just outside the cutline despite playing some of the best golf of her prep career, the Skyline senior bogeyed the first hole of the district tournament before disaster struck on the par-five number two.
“I went out a couple times, and with penalty strokes, I took a nine,” she said.
Despite the less than ideal start to her second round, Vowels made sure it wasn’t her last as a Spartan, collecting herself to shoot 92 and finish in a tie for one of the final two spots at the state tournament.
After missing the cut at districts the past two years by only three strokes, the victory was even sweeter.
“I’m just really proud of myself for being able to come back,” Vowels said. “That is something I’ve been working on for four years. I’m excited I get to play golf for two more weeks.”
