Rockets split with Cascade and Eagleville

After coming in seventh in the Class A-AA State tournament last year, the Cascade Champions golf team showed why they are favored to repeat as District champions when they defeated the Forrest Rockets and Eagleville Eagles in a three-team match at Henry Horton Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Coming off a second place finish at the Murfreesboro Invitational the previous day, Cascade saw all of their top four golfers shoot within a stroke of par and posted a team score of 147 over nine holes.

Jake Pimental led the Champions with a 36, while Lucas Dunnavant, Bryce Clifton, and Chad Gordon each carded a 37.

"My kids play a lot of TGA events during the summer and just enjoy playing," said Cascade coach Chad Spencer. "I'm lucky because my kids love to play golf. That's all they talk about most of the time."

The Rockets (1-2) finished second in the match with a 176, while Eagleville tallied a 187. Senior Blake Tansil turned in his second straight solid performance on the links and paced Forrest with a 39. Gary Lukonen followed Tansil with a 43, while Hawken King and Ty Hoeft registered a 45 and a 49 respectively.

"We showed improvement from yesterday and shaved seven shots off of our score. As long as we can continue to improve we'll be ok," said FHS coach Kyle Stacey. "Blake and Gary have both played well so far this season. We need two more guys to play well consistently, but I think they'll continue to get better the more they play."

Vince Zocco and Ransom McKee both scored a 46 to lead the Eagles, while Joel Duke and Luke Davenport recorded a 47 and 48 respectively.

Eagleville, meanwhile, won the girls match and posted a score of 109 after taking the top two scores from three players. Brooklyn Snell paced the Lady Eagles with a 50 and Nicole Duke carded a 59.

Cascade notched a 113 to finish a close second behind Eagleville, while Forrest tallied a 130.

"Our girls are just young right now. We don't have an upperclassman on the team this year. They just need to get out on the course and play," said Stacey.

Shania Schneider led the Lady Champions with a 51 and Allison Massey scored a 62.

Maria Harris paced the Lady Rockets with a 64, while Dani Hoeft shot a 66.