Golf: Cavalier Season Ends At Regional Tournament

The Cookeville Boys and Girls Golf Teams saw their respective seasons come to an end on Tuesday when they each finished second at the Regional Tournament.

The boys finished with a 322, a single stroke behind White County’s 321, while the girls finished at 159. They were two strokes behind Cleveland’s 157. The winning teams advance, meaning that both teams are officially done for the year after falling just short.

Head Coach Larry Pitts was honest in how he diagnosed his team’s play in the tournament, stating that he has seen his teams play better.

“We just didn’t play well, we didn’t have a good attitude at all,” Pitts said. “Everybody was kind of hanging their heads when they had a bad hole … when you do that, you aren’t setting yourself up for anything other than failure.”

Sophomore Luke Caldwell led the boys team with a 75, while freshman Jakob Smith carded a 76. Lone boys senior Ethan Vanstratum finished with a 85, and Seth Clayton finished out the quartet with a 86.

Girls Senior Savannah Pearson followed up her performance at the District Tournament last Monday with an even better round on Tuesday, as she carded a 78. This was the fourth lowest score of the day, and though it marked the end of the season as only the top three individuals advance, Pitts was quick to point out how proud he was of Pearson and his girls team.

“I’m extremely proud of Savannah and the way she’s played,” Pitts said. “During the District Tournament, she shot her best score in tournament golf, and then she turned around and bested it by three shots today. We finished second against some good teams in the girls side. We lost by two shots to Cleveland who was by far the favorite coming in, so I am extremely proud of how the girls hung in there.”

While the team may be experiencing disappointment today, Pitts refused let it dampen how good of season this team had or the fact that he will bring back several of his players from this year back next year.

“Overall, we have had an outstanding year,” Pitts said. “We only had two losses all year long before today … next year, we will have five of our top six guys coming back. I’m ready for next year. We just have to build on this.”