Clovis senior Michaela Hulder works on her short game during Friday's golf practice at Chaparral Country Club as seniors Corbin Best, left, and Zach Griego watch. The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats will be in Socorro for Class 5A state competition on Monday and Tuesday.

Making his fourth consecutive trip to the Class 5A state golf tournament, Clovis High senior Corbin Best has high hopes for himself and his teammates.

The Wildcats are seeded third of seven full teams in the two-day event, which begins Monday morning at the New Mexico Tech golf course in Socorro. Clovis’ girls also qualified as a team.

“We have to have everyone contribute to be able to win it, or to do good,” Best said. “One guy can’t do it by himself.

“If you’re playing good, you just have to hope your teammates are too.”

This will be the third trip to the Socorro layout this spring for the Cats and Lady Cats, and they’re hoping that’s an advantage.

The Cats finished third at state last season behind La Cueva and Hobbs, and those three teams are seeded in that order again. Clovis finished second to Hobbs in the District 4-5A meet on Monday on the New Mexico Tech course, shooting 325 to 318 for the Eagles.

“Hobbs didn’t play well at the district meet, except for their No. 1 and 2 players, and La Cueva isn’t what they’ve been in the past,” fifth-year Cats coach Cal Fullerton said. “This year, we think we’re just as good as anybody.”

That may be, but the Cats know they can’t be off their games to finish near the top.

“We can’t have any high numbers (on individual holes),” Fullerton said. “If you take out our high numbers last week, we’d have shot between 306 and 310.

“This course is all about placement. You can’t just rip-it-and-grip it.”

Senior Zach Griego is making his third trip to state for the Cats, while junior Ethan Peterson has finished sixth and second individually the last two years. The first-timers are juniors Sam Bridgwater and Turner Ham.

Griego admitted there will be a few butterflies at the start.

“On the first hole, you’re kind of nervous,” he said. “After that, it’s just golf.”

The Lady Cats are seeded fourth in a seven-team field. Senior Michaela Hulder is making her third consecutive trip to state, while sophomore Haley Berry is going for the second time in a row.

“We should be ready,” Hulder said. “The key is to just relax and have fun. I want to have fun my last time there.”

Lady Cats coach Steve Speck said a third-place finish would be a good showing.

“La Cueva and (defending champion) Sandia are stronger than everyone else,” Speck said. “They’ve got scores in the 70s and 80s — those are guys scores.”

Speck said Hulder and Berry have been steady players most of the spring.

“Michaela and Haley have done a good job of shooting good scores all year,” he said. “Even if one of them is down, the other one usually shoots well.

“I think third’s within reach.”

Class 1A-3A — The Texico Lady Wolverines will make their third consecutive trip to the small-school state meet, scheduled this year for the New Mexico State University course in Las Cruces.

Senior Erin Scanlan leads Texico in the event. Last year, Scanlan tied for fifth place individually with a two-day total of 91-90 — 181, helping the Lady Wolverines finish sixth in the team standings.

The Texico program is in its fourth season.