Slate places sixth at state golf tournament

SEVEN LAKES — South Stokes’ sophomore golfer, Sawyer Slate, finished sixth in the rain-shortened NCHSAA 1A State Golf Championships at 7 Lakes Golf Club.

Slate entered the second day of competition in third place with a 74. He had three birdies on the day, but finished with bogeys on holes five, nine, 11 and 18.

On the second day, after not starting until a 1:44 p.m. tee time because of member tee times, and a rain delay, Slate shot a 40 on the front nine. The weather contributed to not playing the last nine holes for everyone. He shot par on holes one, two, four, five, seven and nine.

The Mitchell Mountaineers and Connor Warren repeated as the 1A State Champions. Warren posted a one-over par 72 on Monday and an even 35 par on Tuesday to win the individual championship by three strokes over Langtree’s Samuel Skoog.

Mount Airy finished second, just three strokes behind the Mountaineers. The Bears were led by junior Shockley Hiatt, who posted a six-over over and tied for third with a 112.

Mitchell was first with 474 team points, followed by Mount Airy 477, Mountain Island Charter 492, Cornerstone Charter Academy 499, Cherryville 503, Bishop McGuinness 520, East Wake Academy 535, Rosewood 546, Northside (Pinetown) 546, Wake Preparatory Academy 548, North East Carolina Preparatory 572, and Lejeune 608.

The top 10 Individual State Golfers

Connor Warren (Mitchell) 107, Samuel Skoog (Langtree Charter Academy) 110, Colin Ferrick (Christ the King Catholic) 112, Shockley Hiatt (Mount Airy) 112, Brandon Sorrels (Cornerstone Charter Academy) 113, Hank Johnson (Avery County) 114, Sawyer Slate (South Stokes) 114, Brady Hall (East Wilkes) 115, Blake Tedder (Cherryville) 115, and Ethan Gelo (East Wake Academy) 116.

Other notable finishers from the area are Brandon Bowman (Mount Airy) 117 — 12th place, Carson Webb (Mount Airy) 124 — 24th place, Alex Garza (Elkin) 125 — 28th place, Mason Varney (Mount Airy) 129 — 38th place, Finley Baird (Mount Airy) 129 — 38th place, Colby Crouse (Alleghany) 134 — 51st place, and Jacob Groce (Starmount) 139 — 60th place.