SMALL SCHOOLS: Kato, Faith Lutheran claim 3A crowns
Yuki Kato carded a 1-under-par 70 at Spring Creek on Tuesday to claim the individual title and lead Faith Lutheran’s boys team to the Class 3A state golf championship.
Kato finished the 36-hole event at 3-under 139, seven strokes better than Yerington’s Vinnie Arrighi. Lowry’s Joey Dendary finished third at 148.
Charlie Harrison, who captured the individual title in 2007, is the only other Crusaders boys golfer to win a state crown.
The Crusaders, who won their only other state boys golf title in 2007, had a two-day total of 820 to beat Lowry by three strokes.
Truckee (836) was third, followed by Spring Creek (854), Moapa Valley (892) and Yerington (914).
Chad Kaercher added an 81 and Trevor Ensign an 82 for the Crusaders on Tuesday. Both golfers finished in a three-way tie for seventh at 163.
Alex Vance added an 89 and Charley Berry a 91 for Faith Lutheran.
Virgin Valley’s Ryan Baeza finished fourth at 158 after carding an 80 on Tuesday. Teammate Aiden Sullivan shot 84 to finish fifth at 161.
Jon Oglesby led Moapa Valley, firing an 88 to finish in a tie for 14th at 167.
Boulder City’s Ryan Roundtree and Virgin Valley’s Anthony Lucero were part of a four-way tie for 19th place at 172.
CLASS 2A — Lake Mead’s Joey Velesquez fired an 11-over 83 in the opening round at Genoa Lakes and is in ninth place in the Class 2A state tournament.
Mineral County’s Foster Kenton carded a 75 to take the first-round lead by two strokes over Whittell’s Michael Koskin.
Whittell leads the team competition with a total of 421, 10 strokes better than Incline.
Battle Mountain (479) is third, followed by Needles (481) and Round Mountain (525).
West Wendover also qualified for the team competition but did not a field a full team Tuesday. The Wolverines' Will Doudy is tied for sixth at 81.
The final round will be played today at Edgewood-Tahoe in Stateline.
