Lakeside's golf title run ends after two years

Lakeside's bid for a third consecutive state golf title ended Monday when the Panthers failed to finish in the top two of the Region 3-AAAA tournament.

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Academy of Richmond County finished first, and a young Greenbrier team finished second to leave Lakeside without a shot at defending its back-to-back titles.

"That's the nature of golf," Panthers coach Bill Richey said. "It comes down to one day."

The one-round tournament was played April 21 at Okefenokee Golf Club. Three Wolfpack freshmen and a sophomore came in under 80 on a day coaches said was tough for scoring.

Greenbrier will play in the Class AAAA state tournament Monday at Bartram Trail, its home course.

The Wolfpack team practices at the course often and holds home matches there.

"It's a huge advantage, being our home course," Greenbrier coach Stephen Inman said. "ARC, they can play it, it's a huge advantage for them as well."

Inman sounded relieved to have survived the region. His team tied Lakeside for region runner-up in 2007 and went on to lose a sudden-death playoff. The Panthers, of course, went on to win their second consecutive state title.

Richmond Academy had the tournament in hand at the turn, Inman said, but Greenbrier and Lakeside were battling for second. The Wolfpack came in with a team score of 315, three shots ahead of the Panthers.

Inman's team now focuses on what the Panthers accomplished the past two seasons.

"We've made some big advances this year with this team," he said. "These kids have played junior golf, junior tournaments, so they have experience playing these types of events. Just because they're freshmen doesn't mean they can't go win it."

With the Panthers' miss at qualifying for the state tournament, defending individual champion Brian Carter is also out of the running. Rules allow the region tournament's individual medalist to go to state if his team doesn't, but Carter's 77 wasn't good enough.

The Lakeside junior finished as runner-up as a freshman before winning the state title last season. He verbally committed earlier this year to play for the University of Georgia.

Greenbrier girls take region track title

The Greenbrier girls track and field team won the Region 3-AAAA team championship Monday. The top two athletes from each event qualified for the Class AAAA state meet, which begins Thursday in Albany.

Lakeside will send distance runners Anna Bowles and Katie Townsend, two freshmen who hold the top two times in Class AAAA this season. The Panthers also will be represented by senior Alex Cassagnol, who won the 100-meter hurdles.

Greenbrier's Jazmine Walker won the 100-meter dash by .01 seconds to qualify for Thursday's meet. She finished second in the 200-meter.

Greenbrier's Cherish Richardson and Evans runner Ivanna Hughes finished first and second, respectively, in the 800-meter to earn a trip to Albany.

Greenbrier's Tyeshia Briscoe qualified for state in the shot put and discus throw. Wolfpack pole vaulter Becky Stankus won a region title as the only qualifying participant.