Chattanooga prep golfers made a statement Tuesday during Day One of the TSSAA A-AA state golf championship in Manchester as the Signal Mountain girls are in first place by five shots and Reese Scobey (Notre Dame) and Lake Johnson (Chattanooga Christian) are in the hunt for the boys individual title.
The tournament finishes Wednesday with a final round of 18 holes at WillowBrook Golf Course.
Led by junior Bethany Burns' 7-over, 79, the Signal Mountain Lady Eagles holds a five shot lead at 164, (+20) over Christ Presbyterian and Milan both tied at 169 (+25) with Boyd Buchanan in fourth at 170 (+26) in the eight-team field. Burns' teammate Taylor Gardner shot a 13-over 85.
CAK won A-AA state titles in 2009-10 after CPA claimed the crown in 2008. Milan has never won a golf state team title.
Signal Mountain seeks its fifth state title in six years, having won four straight from 2009-10-11-12 but lost in the region in 2013 and did not compete as a team a year ago.
The Lady Eagles held Day One leads in 2009, 2010 and 2011, but trailed Macon County by five strokes after Day One in 2012, but rallied to win by six shots.
Girls' Leaders: Arianna Clemmer (MIlan) is in first place with an eve par 72, with Burns tied for fourth and Gardner tied for 10th with a pair of Boyd Buchanan players, Madison Balthrop and Lydia Campbell.
Anna Beth Harris (Chattanooga Christian) is tied for 16th (88, +16) and Hixson's Ali Barker shot a 20-over 92 and is tied for 19th.
Boys' Leaders: Chattanooga and Knoxville are fighting for bragging rights on the individual side as Davis Shore (Christian Acad. of Knox.) at -7, 65 and Kyle Cottam (Knox. Catholic) at -1, 71 are first and fourth, respectively.
Scobey at -4, 68 and Johnson at -3, 69 are second and third, respectively, while Zac Bombassi (Notre Dame) and Jake Campbell (Boyd Buchanan) are tied for 14th at 5-over, 77 and Cade Russell (CAK) is tied for 11th at +4.
CAK Leads the Boys Side: Shore and Russell led the way for CAK on Day One which has a +16, 304 to lead the field, while Christ Presbyterian (Nashville) is three strokes back at +19, 307. CPA is led by Luke Zieman with a +1, 73.
For Complete Team and Individual results go to http://tssaa.org/2014-tssaa-state-golf-championships/
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
\
.