It took a tie-breaker to decide this year's 2016 Class 3 Sectional 3 golf tournamnent champion.
The tournament, held in Marshfield, took place at the Whispering Oaks Country Club on Monday.
After battling the rain, wind, and three other teams the Sullivan Eagles andRogersville Wildcats both came in, after eighteen holes of grueling competition, with identical 296s to share the tourney's top spot.
Only the top four cards, of five, are used to determine a team's score. But in the case of a tie, a team's fifth score becomes a tie-breaker. On Monday, Sullivan's fifth score was lower than Rogersville's, earning them top honor.
Both teams will now move on to next week's state tournament, set to take place at River Cut Golf Course in Springfield, on Monday and Tuesday- May 16 and 17.
"We have a lot of depth on our team, that's been a big plus for us this year," Eagle coach Dino McKinney said. "Our kids played well today, especially during the last four holes when the rain and wind was so tough. They got it done and I'm very proud of them."
Although finishing second via a tie breaker system, Logan-Rogersville head coach Keith Spaulding wasn't all that disappointed.
"Yeah it was tough but our kids are all excited about the prospects of moving on, as a team, to next week's state tournament," Spaulding said. "Our kids worked really hard today, through some pretty tough weather, to shoot a 296. That's a good day's work- we're all pretty happy right now."
Sullivan's Bennett Tiefenbrunn fired a 70 to lead all competitors at the C3S3 tourney. He carded rounds of 36-34 to grab the sectional meet top honors.
"I hit a lot of fairways and greens today but I just couldn't seem to make many putts," Tiefenbrunn said. "I played pretty steady all day though. I was able to shoot one over, during my last four holes, when the rain and wind got so bad. I was really happy about that."
The Wildcat's Drew Ritter and Jacob Hefley finished second and third overall. Ritter, with rounds of 35-36 came in at 71. Hefley, only one stroke back, carded a 72 having registered a 37 on his first nine and a 35 on the second.
"The rain was pouring down hard and the wind was blowing about fifteen miles per hour. It was really a grind today, Ritter said. "But I'm a grind it out type of player."
Hefley also grinded it out, but the weather showed up in the worst way for him on the eighth hole as he finished out his round, a hole that saw him register a triple-bogey.
"The weather was great at the beginning. The course was playing easy and I birded the first hole," Hefley said in discussing his round. "But in the rain, on the eighth hole, I had trouble gripping my club. But that's just part of the game. Everybody has to play through it."
Now that the Wildcats have weathered the storm, so to speak, they're turning their attention to next week's state tournament.
"We are all excited about getting to the state tournament this year," senior Weston Humble said. "It's really a challenging course, but I think we can play well on it."
Getting to state, for Rogersville was a big step for the Wildcats who sat out the event in 2015.
"Nobody qualified for state last year. Everybody on the team had a bad day," Wildcat coach Spaulding pointed out. "We didn't get there as a team or as individuals. So our kids are pretty fired up about qualifying as a team this year. Everybody is going."
Aurora's Josh Fronabarger, St. Francis Borgia's William Schroeder and Union's Joshua Jones heads up this year's list of individual qualifyers who will go on to tee off next week at Rivercut. The trio all recorded rounds of 73.
Top Two Team Scores:
Sullivan- 1. Bennett Tiefenbrunn 36-34-70, 2. Gavin M. Yociss 39-34-73, 3. Paul Weiskopf 40-35-75, 4. Garett Juergens 43-35-78, 5. Kaleb Counts 43-37-80.
Rogersville- 1. Drew Ritter 35-36-71, 2. Jacob Hefley 37-35-72, 3. James Hutchison 37-39-76, 4. Jackson VonBehren 40-37-77, 5. Weston Humble 46-39-85.
Class 3 Sectional Results
Team Score
Sullivan 296
Rogersville 296
Carl Junction 333
West Plains 333
Webb City 339
State Individual Qualifiers
School Name Score
Aurora Josh Fronabarger 36-37-73
St. Francis B William C. Schroeder 36-37-73
Union Joshua Jones 36-37-73
St. Francis B. Thomas D. Alferman 36-39-75
St. Francis B. Austin J. Hoerstkamp 37-38-75
Bolivar Drake Johnson 37-38-75
Monett Clayton A. Kaiser 41-34-75
Owensville Logan Moritz 39-38-77
Pacific Cameron Vanleer 37-40-77
Aurora William Mueller 40-38-78
Cassville Dylan Garner 43-37-80
