Photo By Kerry Patrick
A total of 10 golfers were recognized on the All-Little Kanawha Conference team during Monday’s LKC Golf Meet at Mingo Bottom Golf Club in Elizabeth. Pictured in the front row, from left: Cole Arnold (St. Marys), Trent Renner (St. Marys), Brayden Hall (St. Marys) and Preston Lawhon (St. Marys). Back row: Grant Roush (Wahama), Connor Ingels (Wahama), Kelan Lucas (Ravenswood), Blake Lewis (Parkersburg Catholic), two-time LKC Player of the Year Emerson Simons (Roane County) and Sydney Baird (Webster County).
ELIZABETH — Four hours since hitting her first shots off the practice range, Emerson Simons was ready to go home.
Good thing for her, she stayed. But bad news for the rest of the field at the Little Kanawha Conference Golf Meet, which experienced a two-hour rain delay before golfers started their round Monday at Mingo Bottom Golf Club.
Simons posted a 4-under par 68 and successfully defended her title as LKC Player of the Year. The gap between Simons and second place was significant as Wahama freshman Grant Roush and St. Marys junior Cole Darnold tied for runner-up honors at 76.
“Winning Player of the Year for the second straight year is amazing,” Simons said. “I really felt like I fought this year. It hasn’t been my best season, but it definitely hasn’t been my worst.”
“During today’s rain delay, I thought let’s call it off and go home, and reschedule it. But now I’m happy they didn’t.”
In the chase for the team title, four St. Marys golfers landed a spot on the 10-member All-LKC squad and the three-time defending state champion Blue Devils tucked away their second straight LKC championship with a 316. Wahama (337) and Roane County (337) followed in second and third place, respectively.
“The LKC is very competitive so we are really happy to have this win,” St. Marys coach Catie Hamilton said.
For a majority of the season, Arnold played No. 4 on the Blue Devil lineup. But the makeup of the Blue Devils program is interchangeable. Case in point, Trent Renner (80) just recently moved into the No. 1 slot — a position formerly owned by teammate Preston Lawhon (79). Brayden Hall’s 81 rounded out the team scoring.
St. Marys returns to Mingo Bottom GC for next Monday’s Class A regional.
“That’s the great thing about having a team so deep — everybody has the potential to shoot a great round,” Hamilton continued. “Today was a great trial run for how next Monday will go for us. We learned a lot today playing in some tough conditions with the rain. We also learned what we can do differently to come back even stronger.”
Darnold, who transferred from Ritchie County after his sophomore year, joined a crew he was familiar with and made for a smoother transition to a new school. At the LKC Meet, he experienced an inauspicious start with consecutive double bogeys on the first two holes then righted the ship by keeping the ball in play.
“I hit a lot of good iron shots and had a lot of good chances — if I missed a putt it wasn’t by much,” Darnold said. “I had a few bad shots off the tee but missed in the right spots and never really got into a lot of trouble.
“For next week, I need to work on getting off the tee. I lipped out on a couple of putts, but other than that everything is in a pretty good place.”
Roush, who was joined by teammate Connor Ingels (82) on the All-LKC team, embraced his first LKC Meet with the typical approach he would any other 18-hole event. No pressure, just another round of 18 holes of golf.
“I just wanted to win — that’s all I wanted,” Roush said. “I made a lot of short putts that really helped my round today. Made a lot of them.
“I didn’t hit my irons that well but my short game helped me a lot.”
Rounding out the All-LKC contingent were Parkersburg Catholic’s Blake Lewis (78), Ravenwood’s Kelan Lucas (79), and Webster County’s Sydney Baird (80).
As for Simons’ pursuit for a second straight title, she played her first-ever, bogey-free round of nine holes after posting two birdies as part of a 2-under 34 front nine. She made a putt from nearly 30 feet for her birdie on No. 6
“My putter was on fire today,” Simons said. “Recently, my short game has been awful, Today, I just hit the ball. Told myself, ‘you know how to hit the ball.’”
Simons had a colorful back nine, starting with a bogey on No. 10 followed by back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12. After a second bogey on 13, she answered with yet another birdie on 14.
“It was crazy watching Emerson shoot under par,” said Roush, who joined Simons in the lead foursome. “So many birdies. It was awesome to watch. It was really fun playing in her group.”
Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com
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