Lone Peak looks poised to take a fifth straight 6A boys golf state championship following Day 1 of the tournament at TalonsCove. The Knights hold a 12-stroke advantage after Monday’s opening round, equaling their lead from a year ago after the first day of play.
Lone Peak ended the evening shooting a 23-under 265 to stay far ahead of second place Corner Canyon’s 11-under. Still, the Knights’ head coach Derek Farr is not going to feel at ease until his team has a trophy in hand.
“(I’m) not comfortable at all,” Farr said. “You know Corner will make a run. They’ve got great kids. Then you know Herriman is going to make a run. So 12 shots in this is nothing. We can give it away, so we just need to play and have fun and play for something bigger than ourselves. If we do that, we’ll be okay.”
The Knights’ top four scorers all finished the first day under par, catapulting Lone Peak to the top of the leaderboard. Leading the way for Lone Peak, and the tournament as a whole, was senior Cooper Jones who scored a -11. He was followed by sophomore teammate Kihei Akina’s -8.
“They’ve been battling all year that way,” Farr said of his two top performers. “It’s a friendly competition. They do like to beat each other. It’s fun. I’m excited for them. I’m excited for all the fellas – one through six. They did well.”
“Me and him go at it even though we’re teammates,” Jones said of Akina. “I’m pumped that he shot good and I’m sure he’s pumped that I shot good. Obviously, the individual is an aspect of it, and I want to win senior year, it would be good. But we have fun competition and I guess we’ll go and see if I can keep the putter hot tomorrow and see what he can do.”
Jones picked a great time to be on top of his game, shooting what he says is a personal best.
“It’s good to come out and start hot,” he said. “I honestly didn’t think I would shoot that low. … Things just got rolling; my putter got hot on the back nine; made some puts; hit it pretty well. So yeah, good start.”
Despite his great individual start, Jones is keeping his eye on winning as a team.
“Our team’s in great position,” he said. “It’s team first for sure, especially senior year trying to get four in a row. So team first for sure.”
As a team, Lone Peak had two other competitors beside Jones and Akina in the top 15 on the leaderboard. Senior Luke Seaquist checked in at No. 5 with a 3-under 69 and senior Quin Abbott rounded out the Knights’ score with a 1-under 71.
The final round of the tournament will begin tomorrow morning. When asked what it will take to bring the state title home on Tuesday, Farr said, “Just forget about everything today. Just take one shot at a time tomorrow; live in the present; don’t worry about what we did today and don’t worry about anything forward. Just play in the present.”
The present is pretty good for Lone Peak right now. The school hopes tomorrow’s present will be even better.
6A state tournament
At Talons Cove Golf Course
Day 1 Team scores
- Lone Peak, 265
- Corner Canyon, 277
- Herriman, 281
- Fremont, 284
- Riverton, 289
- Bingham, 290
- Farmington, 295
- Layton, 299
Day 1 Individual results
- 61 — Cooper Jones, Lone Peak
- 64 — Kihei Akina, Lone Peak
- 67 — David Liechty, Layton
- 67 — Zach Labrum, Corner Canyon
- 69 — Ian Miyasak, Herriman
- 69 — Ryker Lind, Herriman
- 69 — Alex Edwards, Corner Canyon
- 69 — Luke Seaquist, Lone Peak
- 69 — Luke Dalebout, Fremont
- 69 — Max Landon, Davis
- 69 — Chase Burton, Fremont
- 69 — Bowen Mauss, Corner Canyon
- 70 — Luke Wathen, Riverton
- 71 — Elliot Bond, Herriman
- 71 — Quin Abbott, Lone Peak
- 72 — Erik Davis, Bingham
- 72 — Kyson Crowther, Riverton
- 72 — Deacon Kinikini, Bingham
- 72 — Jack Tobler, Bingham
- 72 — JJ Tomsick, Herriman
- 72 — Ben Ackley, Farmington
- 72 — Lincoln Blake, Corner Canyon
- 72 — Gavin Dosch, Corner Canyon