At this year’s Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A state golf championship, held Nov. 14-15 at the Mission Resort + Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, two schools from the western communities were represented by players in the field.
Berean Christian School was represented by senior Staci Pla in the girls division, while the King’s Academy had both its boys and girls teams competing.
The five boys in the field for TKA were Cameron Cantine, Owen Hicks, Beau Allen, Jacob Melhorn and Hudson Ingram.
The five girls in the field for TKA were sophomore Sophia Christy, junior Callie Nelson, junior Lilly-Kaye Vance, freshman Reese Pender and freshman Selah Nabhan.
In the girls 36-hole competition, which was held on the Las Colinas course, Pla opened with a disappointing six-over-par round of 77. She responded in the second round with a score of one-under-par 70.
“Before the final round, my golf coach reminded me that golf and life are all about the comeback and not the setback,” said Pla, 18, who was one of the strong favorites to be the low medalist at the FHSAA’s Class 1A state golf championship.
Pla’s two-round total of five over par left her in a tie for 24th place in the individual standings. Pla was just one of a handful of players in the field to break par in the second round. In both rounds, Pla finished with a birdie on the 18th hole.
As for the TKA boys, they finished in 15th place in the team competition with a two-round total of 649 (36 over par). The winning team was the Benjamin School, which won with a two-round total of 572 (four under par). For TKA, Allen shot 87-74 (161; 68th place tie); Melhorn had 85-76 (161; 68th place tie); Hicks recorded 82-80 (162; 73rd place tie); Cantine’s two-round scores were 78-88 (166; 84th place tie); and Ingram’s scores were 86-90 (176; 91st place).
The TKA girls finished in 16th place in the team competition. The winning team was Circle Christian from Orlando, which won with a two-round total of 559 (four-under-par). Christy was the low medalist for TKA with a two-round total of 71-80 (151; 35th place tie); Nelson shot 85-87 (172; 72nd place tie); Vance’s two 18-hole scores were 89-94 (183; 86th place); Pender had 96-90 (186; 88th place); and Nabhan’s two scores were 100-93 (193; 91st place).
