They performed fantastic. I was impressed. We had a couple young kids on the team and they pulled it together at the right time. – Beaver head coach Jason Pollard
Beaver’s Davis Heslington flipped the script at the 2A state golf tournament Thursday afternoon in Cedar City.
A year after finishing second to Waterford’s Jack Nilsen by three strokes, the Beaver senior posted the best round during both days of this year’s tournament at Cedar Ridge Golf Course to claim medalist honors with a two-day total of 148.
Nilsen and Beaver junior Kayson Kreth were each four strokes back with a two-day total of 152.
Beaver freshman Braden Roberts finished fourth and sophomore teammate Chipper Willden finished seventh as the Beavers dominated the 2A team race to claim their first state golf championship since a three-peat from 2010 to 2012.
“They performed fantastic. I was impressed. We had a couple young kids on the team and they pulled it together at the right time,” said Beaver coach Jason Pollard.
Beaver finished with a two-day total of 622, followed by Waterford with 648 and Rowland Hall with 690.
Heslington finished with a 1-under over the last four holes as he ended his state tournament career with four top 10 finishes.
“All year he’s been a lot more consistent than last year. His problem was he allowed his emotions to get ahead of him last year, so he started pressing the last five or six holes. You could see in his maturity this year that he buckled down and those last five or six holes were his best holes of the round,” said Pollard.
Heslington and Nilsen were paired together on the final day, and Pollard said it was a great duel throughout.
Heslington had a two-stroke advantage after Wednesday’s opening round, and heading into the 17th hole his lead was just one stroke. On the 17th green, both golfers had makeable birdie putts, with Heslington making his putt to stretch his lead to two strokes.
Nilsen figured he needed to eagle 18 to have a shot at forcing a playoff, but an errant drive put him in trouble as he finished with a triple bogey as Heslington finished with a four-stroke edge.
2A State Tournament results
Cedar Ridge Golf Course
Team scores
1. Beaver, 622; 2. Waterford, 648; 3. Rowland Hall, 690; 4. Gunnison, 739; 5. Millard, 760; 6. North Summit, 819. 7. Draper APA; 8. Altamont.
Individual results
148 — Davis Heslington, Beaver
152 — Kayson Kreth, Beaver; Jack Nilsen, Waterford
157 — Braden Roberts, Beaver
164 — Ryan Park, Waterford; Tucker Lee, Rowland Hall
165 — Chipper Willden, Beaver
166 — Walter Robson, Waterford; Grant Flynn, Waterford
171 — Jaxon Hutchings, Beaver
172 — Giorgio Gianoulis, Rowland Hall
174 — Mason Bartholomew, Gunnison
175 — Jadden Cranney, Millard
176 — Corbin Hannig, Beaver
179 — Max Scaife, Rowland Hall
181 — Jarek Jensen, Gunnison, Brock Dearden, Millard
183 — Jake West, Rowland Hall
186 — Zach Rohovit, Rowland Hall
187 — Tim Stewart, Gunnison