JOURNAL SPORTS
YOUNGSVILLE – It wasn’t as dramatic as last year’s state title but the second straight Benton girls state golf championship was infinitely more emphatic.
Sophomore Grace Goodwin and senior Abigail McWilliams finished second and third individually and powered the Lady Tigers to an overwhelming 17-shot winning margin Tuesday. The same combination brought home the 2024 Girls Division I state crown, with McWilliams winning a playoff that made the difference 12 months ago.
Course conditions and bad weather prompted LHSAA officials to curtail the final round to nine holes instead of 18 in all divisions in the LHSAA State High School Golf Championships conducted on four Lafayette-area courses.
The abbreviated round was a bad break for the Byrd Yellow Jackets, the three-time defending state champs in Boys Division I competition.
Catholic High of Baton Rouge posted three even or sub-par scores Tuesday morning over the 6,348-yard par-72 The Wetlands layout in Lafayette and used that to claim the title. The Bears carded a one-under 143 score over the nine holes completed, and that gave CHS a
two-day 428 total, good enough for a five-stroke win over Byrd, which had won seven of the last nine Boys Division I titles.
The Benton girls rolled to a successful title defense Tuesday with McWilliams carding a one-under 35 and Goodwin a two-over 38 on the 5,679-yard par-74 Les Vieux Chenes Golf Club layout in Youngsville.
Their 73 total added to their first-day six-under 142 and left Benton at 215 for the tournament, good enough for a 17-stroke victory over runner-up Barbe. Benton had entered the final round with a 12-shot lead.
Maci Williams of Brusly, who entered the final day one shot behind Goodwin in the individual chase, had the low round of the day Tuesday with a two-under 34. Williams birdied the par-four sixth and the par-five eighth in a no-bogey round on Tuesday and finished at 104, three strokes ahead of Goodwin and four strokes ahead of McWilliams, who will attend her last day of high school today.
Byrd’s boys got two of just six under-par nines in the Division I competition Tuesday morning. Shepherd Smith followed an opening two-under 70 with a one-under 35 for a 105 total, matched by teammate James Holtsclaw, whose 34 Tuesday paired with a 71 on Monday. They tied for fifth in the individual medalist standings, four shots behind Lafayette High’s Drew Sliman.
Other Byrd golfers were Slayton Guidry, whose 41 Tuesday followed a two-under 70 on Monday and gave him a 111 total; Brooks Reed, finishing with a 41-115 score; and Charles Smith, who shot 38 Tuesday to tie Reed at 115.
Benton’s Kade Bryant, playing individually, shot 39 Tuesday and joined Guidry in a tie for 17th. Bryant will rejoin the Tigers’ baseball team and line up Thursday in a state semifinal series at Live Oak.
Loyola took third place in the Boys Division III competition, led by two Flyers in the top five individual standings. Jack Gilmer shot an even-par 108 over 27 holes for third, and Jack Lauve was fifth at 110.
Loyola’s contingent also included Ben Bretz, who closed with a 38 for a 122 two-day total; Jake Morris, 40-123; and Nicholas Avalone, 41-131.
Ascension Episcopal began Tuesday with a 12-shot lead and finished at 445 to win the Boys Division III crown. Parkview Baptist charged hard and finished two shots back at 447, while Loyola shot a team 463. University Lab was fourth at 475 and Episcopal fifth at 477.
Calvary was eighth at 551, led by Tripp Jones (45-133) and Ezra Smith (46-135).
In Girls Division II, Loyola finished seventh at 291. Kathryn Jackson shot 46-143 and Charlotte Campbell finished at 48-148 to score for the Lady Flyers.