Practice made perfect for Pacey Reading and Kaleb Baskett on Thursday. 

Well, made for pretty good in their estimation. The Van-Far senior and junior each qualified for their third state golf tournament after finishing in the top 20 in the Class 1 District 2 tournament at Heritage Hills in Moberly.

There were over 100 golfers in Van-Far’s district. Reading was the runner-up after shooting a 77, or seven-over par, to finish three strokes behind Glasgow’s Bronson Foster.

Class 1 District 2 Golf Photo Gallery

“We knew all year that state was definitely the goal,” Reading said. “The pressure was there today. There are times that you’re going to hit bad shots, you’re going to have bad holes and you’re going to have a bad stretch. To have some grit under you and fight back and get into a position where you can qualify is what really matters.”

Baskett finished in a three-way tie for 15th after shooting an 85, and the state cutoff was an 86.

“I think we still left some out there,” Baskett said. “We’re both just happy to move on and see what we can do at state.”

Head coach Jay Orr said it was “well-deserved” for both of them to make it through. Without their determination to meet their goals, he said they wouldn’t be competing Monday and Tuesday at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield.

“It’s their focus they had throughout the year,” Orr said. “They were focused on what they wanted to do and what they wanted to accomplish.”

Baskett admitted “nothing went too well for me today,” but he made some key putts early and some pars made up for his worse holes. Reading said he “stayed out of trouble” for the most part to avoid the big numbers and bounced back on the back nine after several bogeys through the front nine. 

They both said they were locked in mentally in big moments on the big stage. Orr said the two had plenty of opportunities to gain valuable experience this year against tough competition.

“We set up some more tournaments for them at bigger stages for bigger schools,” Orr said. “(Activities director) Robbie (Bates) was instrumental in bringing them over here. We’re playing Class 4 and 5 schools, so we get to see better and bigger competition.”

Van-Far achieved big victories as well. Along with winning various tournaments, in the previous week, Reading and Baskett each earned all-conference honors in Van-Far’s first Eastern Missouri Conference championship since 2019. The Indians shot a 379 to beat Montgomery County by five strokes.

“We showed a lot of resilience this season,” Baskett said. “It was awesome to win the conference, and we had some tournament wins. We had confidence coming into this.”

Reading said all their efforts came down to these last few tournaments. He said gaining those “bragging rights” among a tough conference was good to have going into last week.

“You play all the other 18-hole meets and you play the nine-hole meets, it’s just practice playing those courses in those conditions,” Reading said. “Today, you play with 107 golfers, to qualify is tough.”

Kasen Christian finished in a tie for 71st with a 107 in his final meet, Bryce Reading was 76th with a 110 and Maxx Schuckenbrock tied for 84th with a 116. The Indians were ninth out of 21 schools with a 379. 

Orr said the team might not have had as good of a day as they wanted, but they still achieved some goals this season. For example, he said Bryce Reading improved by 10 shots over the last year and the sophomore Schuckenbrock came in with no experience and shot as well as Bryce Reading and Christian. 

“They were pushing each other all year long, which I like,” Orr said. “We won the conference tournament, and I liked the direction we were moving toward.”