Boys golf: Seaside third at Banks Invite

Published 4:51 pm Thursday, April 19, 2018

BANKS — The Seaside boys golf team struggled on the back nine Wednesday at Quail Valley Golf Course, where the Gulls ultimately finished third in the Banks Invitational.

Seaside was just a few strokes behind Valley Catholic after the front nine, but the Gulls couldn’t keep pace with the Valiants or Scappoose.

Valley Catholic carded a 312 to win the tournament, ahead of Scappoose (336) and Seaside (346). Astoria was a distant fourth with a 380.

Tillamook’s Carter Lee shot two-under par 70 to earn medalist honors. Seaside’s Jackson Kunde finished seventh with an 82 and teammate Samson Sibony finished in the top 10 with an 86, followed by Curtis Kunde (88), Connor Merrell (90) and Mason Shamion (91).

“We looked really good on the front today,” Seaside coach Jim Poetsch said. “Out of 53 golfers, we had all five of our guys in the top 14. Jackson was sitting in second place at the turn at one over par, Connor was in ninth and Mason, Samson and Curtis were all just outside the top 10.

“We were eight back of Valley and on our way to our best score of the year,” he said. “But as good as we were on the front, we were about as bad on the back. Two days after having only two blowup holes against Scappoose, we had 22 today. I’m not sure what happened on the back but we are much better than we showed in the last nine holes.”

Josh Olson had Astoria’s top score (89), followed by Conner Long (90) and Taylor Palmberg (95).

“My team continued to show improvement,” Astoria coach Peter Roscoe said. “Josh has posted two rounds in a row in the 80s. Conner and Taylor have played well and are trying to figure out how to avoid the blowup holes and they will be in the 80s.”

The Gulls host the Seaside Invitational, scheduled for Monday at the Astoria Golf & Country Club.