Lady Lancers win, men finish second at La Junta

Eastern Wyoming College’s women’s golf team won the Otero College Tournament, held in La Junta, Colorado, March 20 and 21. The Lancer men finished second.

“The girls had a solid tournament. All the girls played consistently enough to pull off their fifth win of the season,” EWC head golf coach Zach Smith said.

Lady Lancer Georgie Lou Paterakis was the highest EWC finisher, placing fifth with a +21. Lancer Jessica Applegarth finished sixth with a +26. Lancers Elliann Irick and Bailey Watson tied for seventh with a +31. Lancer Shayla Clayton rounded out the top 10 with a +37, and Lancer Halle Allen finished in 12th place with a +48.

“You never know who is going to be our best finisher. I truly believe that all the girls could be our best finisher each week,” Smith said. “That balance has helped us get off to a great start in the first year of girls’ golf.”

On the men’s side, the Lancers finished second with a +10. Otero College won its home tournament shooting an even.

“The guys didn’t play well on Thursday. Tytan (Birchall) and Taiki (Sugawara) held their own, but the rest of the guys didn’t have a great day,” Smith said. “I was looking forward to seeing how they responded on day two. They didn’t disappoint. We were able to gain seven strokes back by shooting -5 as a team.”

Five Lancers finished in the top 10, with Sugawara leading the way in third place with a +1. Lancer Joshua Chapman finished in a tie for sixth place with a +4, followed by teammates Birchall and Coltin Powell in a tie for eighth with a +6. Lancer Braylon Bingham finished 10th with a +7. Teammate Freddie Dancox finished in 12th place with a +9.

“At the end of the day, the men had dug too deep of a hole on day one to Otero. Hats off to them; they played very well at home,” Smith said. “I know we are all looking forward to playing the challenging course in McCook (Nebraska) this week.”