High school golf: Hornets, Mustangs are strong

Published 3:31 pm Wednesday, March 20, 2024

 

From staff reports

SALISBURY — East Rowan won Monday’s South Piedmont Conference golf match at Corbin Hills.

East’s 156 (best four scores, 9 holes) topped Northwest Cabarrus (166), West Rowan (184), Lake Norman Charter (184), South Rowan (198), Carson (205), Robinson (205) and Central Cabarrus (234). Concord couldn’t post a team score.

Medalist Landon Merrell shot 34 to lead the Mustangs. Brady McIntyre (37), Jaden Sprinkle (39) and freshman Jason Bonds (46) were the other East scorers.

Logan Swanger (39), Talan Harrison (40) and Cooper Burris (40) led NWC, South Rowan’s Hunter Alexander (42) and West Rowan’s Tyler Kepley (43) had top-10 finishes.

Auden Fults led Carson with a 46.

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McIntyre shot 5-under 67 in the HV3 Boys’ Invitational Qualifier at River Bend Country Club on Sunday.

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CHINA GROVE — On Tuesday, Northwest Cabarrus won at Warrior with a 147 team score, sparked by Swanger’s sizzling 31.

Burris shot 34, while Harrison shot 36 for the Trojans.

East Rowan tied for second, with McIntyre shooting 34, Merrell 36 and Sprinkle 37. Mason Mainville shot 43 and was the fourth scorer for the Mustangs.

Lake Norman Charter tied East at 150. The Knights were led by Brady Macfee’s 35.

Kepley led West with a 40. Carson was led by 43s by Robert Jolly and Jacob Rockwell. South’s Alexander and Dane Wheeler shot 44s.

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SALISBURY — Salisbury won Central Carolina Conference matches at the Country Club of Salisbury on Monday and Tuesday.

John McCoy (35), Warren Fesperman (37), Bo Brincefield (41) and Jackson Sparger (41) were the scorers for the Hornets on Monday.

On Tuesday, McCoy shot 35. Sparger and Jacob Trainor had 37s. Brincefield shot 39.

Trainor transferred to Salisbury for the second semester. He came from Gray Stone Day, where he’d been a state qualifier. That made a deep team deeper.

McCoy leads the Hornets by quite a bit with a 35.71 stroke average, but the Hornets have eight other golfers who average from 40 to 44. Sparger, who also is playing baseball, actually averages a shade under 40 at 39.85.

“We’ve got a lot of depth, and it’s tough picking five to put in the lineup, but that’s a good problem to have,” Salisbury coach Josh Brincefield said.

The Rowan County Tournament is set for April 4 at Warrior, with a 2 p.m. start. It’s shaping up as a battle between the Hornets and Mustangs. They have played twice this season and split those matches.