Van-Far golf will have its first taste of state in a while.

Cody Smith and Pacey Reading achieved good enough scores on Thursday at the Class 1 District 2 Tournament at Heritage Hills Golf Course in Moberly to give Van-Far its first state golfers since 2019 — a season the Indians won districts and then finished third in Class 1.

Smith shot a 79, or nine-over par, to tie for third while Reading shot an 87 to tie for 15th to secure him and Smith’s first trips to state. At districts last year, Smith had Van-Far’s top score and was seven strokes out of qualifying position. 

The Indians finished fifth out of 15 schools after shooting a 375. Clara Wallace was Van-Far’s next best finisher with a 102, Kasen Christian had a 107 and Katelyn McCurdy shot a 109.

Paris finished seventh with a 385 as Donald Jones had the Coyotes’ best score of 91, missing state by three strokes. Mason Edwards followed with a 95, Reid Ragsdale had a 99 and Evin Reichmann shot a 100.

Salisbury won districts with a 326, and Marceline was the runner-up with a 353. Braden Lee Lichtenberg won the individual title with a 71 while Nolan Gordan was Salisbury’s best finisher with a third-place 79, tying Smith.

The Class 1 state meet takes place May 15-16 at the Country Club of Missouri in Columbia.

Centralia finishes third at conference, four earn all-CCC

The Centralia boys had the players for a solid showing on Wednesday at their conference tournament.

In the Clarence Cannon Conference tournament hosted at Norwoods Golf Course in Hannibal, the Panthers earned a third-place finish out of eight schools after shooting a 352, which was behind winner South Shelby’s 317 and runner-up Macon’s 338. Centralia had four all-conference players in Cullen Bennett, Travis Brooks, Carter Moss and Luke Sachs.

Brooks had Centralia’s best score of an 86, or 16-over par and nine strokes back of conference champion South Shelby’s Noah Wilt. Bennett and Moss each finished with an 87 to earn second-team all-CCC nods along with Brooks. Sachs shot a 92 to be an all-CCC honorable mention. 

Seven golfers were first team, with the worst score being an 83, seven made second team and nine were honorable mentions.

Knipfel has best finish for Mexico at NCMC meet

Mexico didn’t have the best day at its conference meet.

The Bulldogs finished this season without any all-North Central Missouri Conference golfers on Tuesday at the conference tournament hosted at Kirksville. Aidan Knipfel had the best score for Mexico after shooting a 96 and missed all-conference honors by one stroke as 15 golfers were all-NCMC win the worst score being a 95 by two kids.

For sixth-place Mexico and its 410, Jacob Stephens had the next best score of 102, Kaiden Doebelin followed with a 105, Landon Love had a 107, Mac Haag shot a 109 and Grant Broeker finished with a 123.

Quinn Thomas won the conference title for Hannibal after shooting a 75, making him the only golfer to finish south of 80. Hannibal won the team title with a 342.

Paris finishes third in home scramble tournament

The emphasis was on teams more than usual.

Paris hosted a scramble tournament on Tuesday that involved golfers being paired with teammates. The Coyotes finished third with a score of 163 spread between three duos while Salisbury won with a 146 and Canton was second with a 150.

Donald Jones and Mason Edwards combined for a 78, which was one of eight scores below 80 in the tournament, to finish in a tie for fifth with Salisbury’s Jaxon Green and Nolan Gordon. Canton’s Trevor Biggerstaff and Caleb Cox had the best score of 71.

Other Paris duos included Evin Reichmann and Garrett Henry, who finished with an 85, and Reid Ragsdale and Ian Farrell, who shot a 95.