Freshman leads record-setting Cougars

Coronado freshman golfer A.J. McInerney asserts he is never daunted going up against older competitors.

In fact, Cougars coach Joe Sawaia said McInerney is good enough to have played for his team since he was in the sixth grade.

One day after shooting a 3-under-par 69 at Dragon Ridge Country Club, McInerney carded a 1-under 71 at Mountain Falls Golf Club in Pahrump on Thursday.

McInerney's 140 total at the two-day, 36-hole event gave him the Class 4A Sunrise Region tournament championship and led the Cougars to their second straight team title with a record-setting 742.

"It feels great, but it's nothing more than I expected," said McInerney, who eagled the par-5 fourth and eighth holes. "I expected to win, but I'm obviously very happy with how I played."

Coronado's 22 over eclipses the previous lowest winning score in a 36-hole state or region tournament, which was set by Green Valley with a 30-over 750 at the 1998 4A state tournament at Stallion Mountain Country Club.

"I'm just real proud of the way the kids played," Sawaia said. "They were up to the challenge today. They weren't lackadaisical with the lead."

McInerney was followed by teammates Tad Darland (144), Kenden Slattery (150), Kevin Stratton (152) and Jimmy Burris (156).

Green Valley (811) was the other Sunrise team to clinch a spot in the 4A state tournament, which begins Wednesday at Red Hawk Lakes Course in Sparks.

Ryan Green led the Gators with a 150, followed by Amaan Hussain (163), Michael Sadler (163), Zach Morris (166) and Trevor Graziano (169).

Individuals from nonqualifying teams to reach state were Las Vegas' Ray Gillip (143), Silverado's Josh Fisher (158), Las Vegas' D.J. Padron (162), Chaparral's Rick Carrillo (170) and Foothill's Bailey Rogers (173).

Sawaia said a key to the Cougars' success has been not worrying what other teams are doing.

"I don't think they get caught up in what other people are doing," he said. "If we go out and shoot 370 and get beat, that's just someone else playing better than you."

Now the Cougars will try for their first state title. They were third at state last season.

"Obviously now we can start looking to state," McInerney said. "All of us are looking forward to it and we can have a lot of fun."

Moments after accepting his first-place medal, Zane Thomas had to dart away from the leaderboard to grab his golf bag from sprinklers that had suddenly turned on.

That was about the only thing that went wrong Thursday for the Arbor View freshman.

Thomas followed his 3-over-par 75 at Badlands Golf Club on Wednesday with a 4-under 68 Thursday to clinch the Class 4A Sunset Region championship at Mountain Falls Golf Club in Pahrump.

"It's pretty special," said Thomas, who had six birdies. "It was a tough course out there, and I feel like I played pretty well. I thought it was possible, but I knew I had to play really well to beat all the competition out here.

"I just got a lot of putts to fall, and that made it easier on myself."

Palo Verde won its third consecutive team title with a 776, edging Centennial (782) for the second straight season.

Both teams clinched spots in the 4A state tournament, which starts Wednesday at Red Hawk Lakes Course in Sparks. Bonanza (815) was third.

"I think at the beginning of the season, people kind of overlooked us because we were defending state champions ... we lost a lot of kids," Palo Verde coach Jeff Wolfram said. "We've played nails here down the line, and I'm real proud of our kids."

Kyle Melchiorre led the Panthers with a 153. He was followed by teammates Nick Roman (153), Thanapon Iamsaard (154), Josh Lo Manto (160) and Errek McClellan (160).

Jake Barton carded a 155 to lead Centennial, followed by Greg Kerber (156), James Newman (157), Brad Rowland (160) and Zach Chyz (161).

Individuals from nonqualifying teams to reach state were Thomas, Bonanza's Yongsoo Shin (151), Pahrump Valley's Shane Lindemann (154), Bishop Gorman's Connor Morris (154) and Durango's Aaron Page (158).

Wolfram said Palo Verde finished on top because of a renewed focus for the final round.

"Eight strokes is not a lot," he said of the Panthers' lead over the Bulldogs after the first round. "It's about a stroke and a half a kid.

"When we sent the kids out, we told them it's 0-0. Let's go play 18 holes like this is the only thing."

Contact reporter Tristan Aird at taird@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203.