Chris Ebbesmeyer finished ninth in 2021 to earn all-state golf honors for Paris.

Paris at Districts Photo Gallery

Paris hasn’t had a state golfer since, at least that was the case until Friday’s Class 1 District 2 Tournament in Moberly. Logan Mitchell and Evin Reichmann both made the cutoff to become the first Paris state golfers since Ebbesmeyer.

Head coach Jeremy Skinner said even though there was a two-year drought, Paris still came close in two seasons. The senior Reichmann matched the cutoff score of 91, and the freshman Mitchell shot an 89, or 19-over par, to be the final of 13 all-district golfers.

“It’s great because, the last couple years, we’ve had kids miss it by one or two strokes. This year, I’m really happy that Evin as a senior made it by the skin of his teeth,” Skinner said with a teasing grin. “He’s been working really hard ever since last season. We got Logan who made it to all-district, and as a freshman, that’s pretty cool.”

Skinner said Paris was the deepest it has been in a while that helped them defeat a lot of teams this season and that was even true in districts. The Coyotes were fifth out of 16 schools with a score of, tying Schuyler County with a 381. 

Cole Dowell had a 99, Reid Ragsdale shot a 110 and Brad Skinner finished with a 111 to round out the rest of the Coyotes’ scores.

“I knew we wouldn’t have an amazing team, but we would have a pretty good team,” Skinner said. “We had about six or seven golfers that were pretty good. Evin’s been leading us the whole year, averaging about a 42, Logan’s been the No. 3 most of the year and Cole’s been our two. Our top four were averaging under 50. We were above average.”

Mitchell was proud after earning all-district honors but was even happier when he found out Reichmann made the cutoff to qualify.

“I am very happy to go to state with one of my best friends,” Mitchell said. “It’s a nice feeling.”

Reichmann said so much work was put in to earn Friday’s moment, and Skinner confirms that the senior spent much time on his game in the offseason.

“It just makes me really happy to get this because I worked so hard the last four years to be able to get to this point,” Reichmann said. 

Skinner said he felt good going into the day that Paris could qualify at least a couple golfers for state, partly because the Coyotes were so familiar with the course. Paris played at Heritage Hills on six occasions before districts — four matches and two tournaments — including its conference tournament every year. 

Still, with the wet conditions created by the previous day’s storms, Skinner said more work was necessary before Friday’s important round.

“We worked on the driving range just to make sure we got down the ball, and we weren’t scared to take a divot with all the mud splattering everywhere,” Skinner said. “We worked on making sure we were OK hitting it off the slop so hopefully that helped out a little bit.”

Paris will need to get accustomed to another course for the Class 1 state tournament on May 13-14 at Twin Hills Golf & Country Club in Joplin. On Friday, though, the Coyotes were relaxed even with their season on the line.

“I felt pretty comfortable coming here and playing,” Reichmann said. “I’ve shot 81 and 85 here to get second in (the) Moberly (Invitational) and to get all-conference.”

“Playing here the first few times, I didn’t play very good,” Mitchell said. “I shot 100 both times here. Today, I wasn’t expecting to make it to state so I just came out with no nerves and just decided to play the best golf I could. Just be relaxed, and it turned out very well for me.”