Freedom New Mexico

Disqualifications paved the way for a Lovington victory in Friday’s District 3-1A/3A tournament at Lovington Country Club.

With the scores affected for Portales (424) and Texico, which did not post a team score, Lovington took top honors with a 419.

Portales girls golf coach Loy Hampton said the team got penalized for a kicked rock. Hampton said he was advising a player on a shot and, “I just happen to flick a little rock with my foot and they called it.”

Portales was issued a two-stroke penalty on Paige Hartman’s scorecard. Hampton said the team forgot to add the penalty on the scorecard and got disqualified.

Texico had a pair of disqualifications as well, coach Kristen Scanlan said. Holly Harrison’s 103 was knocked out by a scorecard error, and Kristen Beltran was disqualified due to a rule violation. Texico would have won the tournament with a team score of 415 without the disqualifications.

The team had a bright spot with Erin Scanlan shooting 86 to earn medalist honors — 11 strokes ahead of Portales’ Tylar Rowley, who shot 97. Texico didn’t have enough golfers for a team score due to the disqualifications, with Allison Myers posting a 111 and Dionna McWhorter shooting a 132.

Gabby Espinoza added a 105 for Portales and Kelsey Prince and Amber McCasland each shot a 111. Hartman finished at 103.

In boys action, Portales finished second behind Lovington, but coach Andy Correll said it was good practice in preparation for the state tournament at the University of New Mexico.

“We’re going to get a couple of practice rounds in this weekend,” Correll said. “That will definitely help us.”

Donavin Sanchez shot 74 and finished second. Will Archibeque shot 79, Rick Bergman 82, Dennis Short 85, and Tristan Cottrell 89.

District 4-5A

A rough start pushed the Wildcat golf squad to second place in the District 4-5A tournament.

Coach Cal Fullerton said the team let the Hobbs lead get big a little too early. The Eagles shot a 308 on their home Ocotillo Park course, followed by Clovis at 315 and Carlsbad at 340.

“We were down nine shots after the front nine,” Fullerton said. “We didn’t get off to good start. The guys played really good on the back nine.

Ethan Peterson shot a 73 to finish two strokes behind medalist Cameron Bergman of Hobbs. Kyler Brewer-Hill was third with a 77, and Kyle Wornell shot 81. Zach Griego and Corbin Best each shot 84 for the Wildcats.

In girls action, Carlsbad took an easy victory with a 366, 17 shots ahead of Hobbs (383) and 33 ahead of Clovis (399).

Clovis coach Cristy Hill said some bad holes hurt the team, but there were bright spots with Michaela Hulder tied for third at 88, and Kolby Rains tied for fifth with a 92.

Other Clovis golfers were Nicki Clayton (100), Monica Kyser (119) and Sarah Fullmer (123).