Johnson wins C-Falls golf tourney

Wildcat senior Parker Johnson shot an 85 on the par 72 Meadow Lakes Golf Course on Sept. 6, solid enough for first place at the Columbia Falls Invitational. Johnson narrowly beat Hayden Congdon, of Polson, who carded an 87 for second place.

"The shoot-out between Johnson and Congdon was really fun," Columbia Falls coach Gene Marcille said. "Both of them are good golfers, and they were just neck-and-neck the entire round of golf until the end, when Parker pulled ahead."

Other Wildcat competitors included Brian Marcille at 104, Henry Chisolm at 111, Coby Hutchens at 120 and Ronny Gallegos at 121. The Libby Loggers took team honors with a 385, followed by Polson at 401 and the host Wildcats with 420.

"We had higher expectations for our home course performance, but we're not totally surprised by these results," Marcille said. "Most of our team is relatively new to varsity golf, and they're working hard in practice. We just hope the improvement keeps coming and peaks at divisional."

On the girls side, Polson dominated the invitational with a team total of 385, claiming the top-five finishes. The Wildkats took second place with a team total of 520. Libby did not field a full girls team.

"The Polson girls are tough," Marcille said. "I think they have a real legitimate shot to not only make a good run at conference, but I think they can even contend at state."

Morgan Love's 120 and McKenna Emmerich's 121 paced the Kats, followed by Maggie Panasuk's 136, Rachel Hagen's 143 and Mackenzie Dereu's 144.

"We might not be putting up great scores, yet, but these girls are incredibly fun to coach" Marcille said. "They work hard, and they really represent our school well."

Next varsity golf is Friday at the Libby Invitational.