Gray Gale shot the round of his life April 30 in Georgetown.
Highland Park’s senior captain carded a 4-under-par 68 to open the Class 5A State Championships at Legacy Hills Golf Club helping fuel a third-place finish to claim the bronze medal.
Gale followed his blistering opening round with an even-par 72 for a two-day total of 140, just three strokes off the pace of Prosper Walnut Grove’s Austin Randall (67-70–137) with College Station’s Gage Elizondo (70-69–139) in second.
Additionally, Gale’s strong performance helped propel HP’s No. 2 team team to a third-place finish overall, giving the Scots two teams on the medal stand as its No. 1 squad narrowly missed out on gold and settled for silver.
“It was a good week for us,” said Richard Wager, HP head coach. “Our goal entering the season was to have both teams win medals. It was a lofty goal, but we accomplished it, and I’m so proud of the kids.”
Walnut Grove took the overall team championships after posting rounds of 285 and 290 (575) to edge HP No. 1 (288-288–576) by one stroke with HP’s No. 2 team (299-293–592) finishing in third and four shots clear of Comal Smithson Valley (297-299–576).
“[Missing gold by one shot] was a tough pill to swallow,” Wager said. “When you look back, there were a lot of opportunities to make up a stroke here or there, we just weren’t able to capitalize on all of them.
“Going in, we thought it would come down to the two of us, and our second team gave us a great chance, too. We were seven shots back at the turn, but we were actually able to pull in front a bit on the backside. Walnut Grove really finished strong, though, and was able to clip us at the end.”
Jeffrey Rubenstein finished in a tie for fourth (73-69–142) to lead HP’s No. 1 team, while Edward Lehner earned a tie for ninth (69-75–144).
The rest of the No. 1 team consisted of Andrew Lieu (71-74–145), Carter Klein (75-71–146), and Charlie Simmons (75-74–149).
Rounding out the competitors on HP’s No. 2 team were Charlie Conger (78-71–149), William Ballotta (76-74–150), Ben Parks (77-76–153), and Owen Beck (78-81–159).
“Gray was just incredible and the rest of our kids really stepped up behind him” Wager said. “We really showed the depth of our team and it was an amazing weekend.”
Lady Scots Finish Seventh
While HP’s boys teams were in action last week, the Lady Scots competed at the 5A girls championships Monday and Tuesday, also at Legacy Hills, where they finished seventh as a team.
HP shot rounds of 319 and 313 for a combined score of 632 with first-place going the way of Comal Pieper (298-298–596) and silver going to Frisco Reedy (302-301–603).
HP’s state lineup featured Delaney Newberry (80-72–152), Jacqueline Zhuang (78-75–153), Brooke Devault (79-81–160), Elle Dyer (88-85–173), and Ellison Newberry (82-92–174).
Individual medals were procured by Michelle Lee of San Antonio Alamo Heights (70-67–137), Dresden Bounds of Pieper (74-69–143), and Kaylee Yuan of Joshua (72-71–143).
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