The Lord Botetourt golfers are going to win the Blue Ridge District. They just need to make it official.
Botetourt will take a 72-stroke lead to Ole Monterey next Monday for the fifth and final round of the BRD regular season tournament. Northside is the closest team to LB, and the Vikings would have to beat the Cavaliers by an average of 18 strokes per man to catch them. For example, if all four LB scorers shot 90, then all four Northside golfers would have to shoot 72 just to tie, and that’s not going to happen on either count.
The Cavaliers put it away with a round of 296 at Mariners’ Landing last week, and that was the completion of an earlier outing that was delayed by bad weather. Northside was second with 325, William Byrd shot 328, Alleghany had 339 and Staunton River shot a 363.
With that result Botetourt was at 1,123 for the season, followed by Northside at 1,195. Byrd was next at 1,221 with Alleghany at 1,241 and Staunton River at 1,283.
Individually, Lyndsey Hunnell and Justin Nichols both shot 71 to tie for medalist honors at Mariners’ Landing. That moved them both within five shots of William Byrd’s Brandon Bailey for overall individual champion in the BRD. Bailey leads with 276 and Hunnell and Nichols both have 281. Ben Matthias and Austin Broyles are tied for sixth place at 287 and Andrew Long is ninth in the district at 293. Broyles shot 76 at Mariners’ Landing and Kris Hoffman also scored for LB with a 78.
If Botetourt can hold off the district, as expected, the Cavaliers will have a berth in the Region III tournament. The Blue Ridge District tournament is also at Ole Monterey on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
Blues take PD golf title away from River
The Parry McCluer golfers won the Pioneer District regular season when they outshot James River by five strokes in Covington last week.
The Blues had a nine-hole total of 158 while River had 163 at the Cliff View course, site of the final district match of the season. Bath County also beat the Knights with a 159, so the final district records are 17-2 for Parry McCluer and 15-4 for River.
“Now we have to make the regional by winning the tournament, or at least finishing second to Parry McCluer,” said River coach John Shotwell. “I think we should be able to do that.”
Korey Watts had an even par 36 to lead River at Cliff View. Irina Boothe had a 37 while Jaret White and Tyler Duke both shot 45.
“We had one bad hole, a par three where three of our kids had double-bogeys,” said Shotwell. “Irina was one under and that was the last hole she played so she finished one over.”
On Thursday, River will have a non-district match against Glenvar and Alleghany at the Botetourt Country Club.
