Golf: Hamilton girls win Antigua Invite by 14 shots

September 11, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Xavier Prep's Ashley Menne played steady golf over the final seven holes Saturday to take medalist honors at the annual Antigua National High School Invitational at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale.

Menne, a freshman, topped teammate Emily Mahar by two strokes to leave quite a mark in her early prep career for the Gators. Menne made par on each of her final seven holes to pull out of a tie with Mahar. Mahar bogeyed back-to-back holes (15 and 16) with three holes left.

Hamilton's girls team wasn't nearly as sharp as its first round 7-over score, but had enough of a lead to nail down the team title by 14 strokes over runner-up Xavier. Hamilton shot +18 in the second round as did Xavier.

Leading Hamilton's triumph with +5 totals for the tournament were Hannah Li and Jenny Bae. They tied for fourth place. Hamilton teammates Alyzzah Vakasioula, Toni St. John and Rachel Fujitani had contributing scores for the winners as well. Coronado (NV) was third )+45), Archbishop McCarthy FL was fourth +48 and  Millennium cracked the top five (+54) among the 16 teams competing.

In the boys competition, The King's Academy (FL) took home team and medalist honors in the 23-team field. First-round co-leader Andrew Kozan fired a 5-under 67 to go with his 2-under, three shots better than Salpointe's Trevor Werbylo. Werbylo tried to make a late charge with consecutive birdies on his back nine to pull within three shots with five holes to play. Werbylo shot a 3-under 69 in Saturday's final round. King's Academy finished even-par for the team crown with a 7-under round on Saturday. Runner-up honors went to Lone Peak Utah (+11) with Desert Vista taking third (+15).  Desert Vista shot a 1-under round on Saturday.

Tying for third place individually was Campo Verde's Branden Meyer at 1-under-par. Meyer shot 1-under 71 on Saturday. Three Arizona golfers tied for seventh among a group of five at 1-over for the tournament -- Brophy Prep's Nate Anderson, Desert Vista's Brian Seo and Desert Vista's Tyler Svendson.