Eagles hold off New Kent for win in district golf

By John Harvey

HarveySports757@yahoo.com

Dan Kelly shot a 77 for Jamestown on Thursday.

NEW KENT – During its run of 12 straight Bay Rivers District championships, Jamestown High’s golf team had all but locked up the title through the first three weeks of the season.

New Kent’s Cole Baldwin and Parker Wallace are giving the Eagles all they can handle, as the Trojan golfer have earned medalist honors in each of the first two matches.

Baldwin carded a 3-over par 75 and Wallace finished in a four-way tie for second place as New Kent (313) finished within a stroke of Jamestown (312) during Thursday’s match held at The Traditions Golf Course at Royal New Kent.

The Eagles had four golfers shoot 79 or better to extend their lead to 10 strokes in the regular season standings. Emily Salamy, who missed Monday’s opener playing a tournament in North Carolina, and Dan Kelly, posted rounds of 77 to lead Jamestown.

Kelly, who shaved five strokes off his opening round match, was pleased. “My round was solid,” he said. “I hit greens in regulations and just played from there. It shows room for improvement at the same time in terms of consistency and putting.”

Two strokes separated Jamestown and New Kent between the top 3 scores. But William Bell and Alex Akins finished with scores of 79, which was three strokes better than the Trojans Bryce Paige (79) and Cole Hitchcock (82) to seal the win.

“It’s definitely different this year with New Kent playing this good,” Kelly said. “313 is a great score from them and it puts a little extra pressure on us, which is really good since we have some kids who haven’t played in (many) matches before this year.”

Smithfield (348) finished third overall, followed by Lafayette (35), Tabb (374), Warhill (385), York (385), Grafton (393), Poquoson (409) and Bruton (416).

Tawni Hatcher shot an 82 to earn a Top 10 finish for Lafayette. Jacob Smethurst (83) finished one stroke back, followed by Jordan Olsen (93) and Conor Flannery (100).

Warhill continued to impress with a team loaded with underclassmen. Bryce Parker shot 89 for the second straight match. Peter Conway finished with a 95, followed by Evan Kerr (97) and Austin Beaulieu (104).

Tyler Floyd led Bruton with a score of 96 in his first appearance of the season. Dylan Jenkins posted a 103, followed by Wyatt Baldasare (104) and Zack Calloway (113).

The third district match of the season will be held Monday, Aug. 18 at Kiln Creek.

Contact me at HarveySports757@yahoo.com or @HarveySports757 via Twitter.