Clippings of grass from the tenth hole flew back into the gallery just off the hands of the golfers reminiscent of how the Yellow Jackets flew full force to the fairway en route to obtaining the first state golf championship runner-up trophy in program history last Wednesday in Wheeling.
Moorefield senior Hayden Baldwin picked up a clump of grass prior to commencing the second round of the WVSSAC state golf championship on the tenth hole of Oglebay Resort’s Speidel Golf Club Trent Jones designed course on Wednesday and let it fly and the intense wind made the clippings dart directly behind the tee towards the gallery of spectators awaiting to see what would entail for the Yellow Jackets and the rest of the competition.
That Wheeling Feeling was brisk, but an improvement on the first round’s frosty delay on Tuesday with the golfers bundled up for the state tournament preparing to swing for the fences or fairways rather.
Moorefield Golf finished the two-day state golf championship with a total card of 539 (276-263) for the runner-up position just 14 strokes behind defending state champion St. Marys squad earning the title with a total of 523 points.
“It feels really good. I am super proud of this team for their hard work and their dedication. They’ve achieved something that has never been done before at our school and that’s going back many years of great golf teams and golf players at Moorefield High School. This team came together and worked really hard and this was their goal,” Moorefield Golf Coach Wade Armentrout commented.
“They set goals for themselves at the beginning of the season to be [private]conference champions, region champions and I am just overwhelmed with what they have accomplished. They deserve it, because they put in a lot of work and it takes that. If there wasn’t a day they wouldn’t have practiced, then we may not have been able to have achieved this today. It goes back to their work.”
The Wheeling wind created success for the Yellow Jackets flying with more ease on the second round of state action and should shake up the trophy case back at the high school to make room for the special historic hardware returning to Moorefield, but Valley View Golf Course being the home course will have the honor of displaying the trophy for a period of time.
All four Yellow Jackets completed the state golf championship placing in the Top-25 among the entire Class A competition in Wheeling.
Moorefield Golf sophomore Jarrett Carr earned extra hardware being selected to the Class A State Golf All-Tournament Team with a fourth place total of 170 (90-80).
“Today was nice, because we got to hit on the practice green which helped me out a lot. I putted better today, because of that opportunity. I really enjoyed the state tournament, we had a great year and this was a really great way to cap it off. We didn’t get what we wanted to achieve, but we got the next best thing. It is great for Moorefield and Coach Donna [Riggleman] would be really proud of us and unfortunately she isn’t here with us and I think we made her proud. It is a nice accomplishment to get the all-tournament award and I think just the second or third golfer in school history to do it. I had a nice five hole stretch out there to help keep the score low. There were some good golfers out there. We worked hard together to reach this accomplishment,” Moorefield Golf sophomore J.J. Carr remarked.
The success continued to develop for the Yellow Jackets as junior Ryan McGregor placed 12th overall with a two-day state golf tournament card of 184 (94-90), followed by senior Hayden Baldwin with a 23rd place finish of 197 (92-105) and junior Karson Reed garnered 25th place with a score of 204 (111-93).
The Yellow Jackets were in third place after the opening round with a total of 276 strokes with Williamstown sitting in second place with a score of 264 and the 12 stroke difference was certainly attainable to overcome as Moorefield remained positive, confident and focused to fly upward to the hole of success.
“This was a good experience. I have been here the past two years. Nothing really much new here. I was hitting more fairways today. The ball dropped well for me. I liked hole number 13 and hole number four I got a birdie there. It is really nice to be on this team and we worked really hard to get here and we finally did it. It is a great honor,” Moorefield Golf junior Ryan McGregor stated.
For the first round of the state championship at Oglebay Resort, Moorefield was paced by sophomore Jarrett Carr with a card of 90, followed by sophomore Ryan McGregor with 94 strokes and senior Hayden Baldwin at 92 as junior Karson Reed’s score of 111 was not in the top three for the overall total.
The second day’s total of 263 points was one of the best rounds in school history and enabled the Yellow Jackets to leap past the maroon Yellowjackets and edge out the Blue Devils by two strokes for closing the overall gap.
“My breakfast was awesome this morning, it got me motivated. It all starts with the range here, if you have good shots you should come in with a positive attitude. You go out on the putting green and have fun. If I hit a bad shot, then I didn’t worry about it and put it behind me. The experience was nice and glad to be a part of a state runner-up team. This course was amazing and I was loved driving the ball on it. This was awesome for our school and amazing to bring home the hardware,” Moorefield Golf senior Hayden Baldwin noted.
Moorefield Golf’s individual totals for the second round on the Speidel Golf Club course was led by Carr with a school record card of 80 strokes with the previous leader being Quincy Fraley back in 2012 with a total of 81 for one round (165 school record total) and also finished as a member of the all-tournament team in sixth place.
McGregor shaved off four strokes for a total of 90 on the second day, while Baldwin’s score dropped to a 105 and Reed’s second round was completed in 93 strokes to be added this time to the overall top three scoring for the team total.
The complete order of Class A team finishes at the state championship are: 1. St. Marys – 523, 2. Moorefield – 539, 3. Williamstown -548, 4. Pocahontas County – 589, 5. Sherman – 598, 6. Notre Dame – 603, 7. Wahama – 606, 8. Webster County – 634.
After the awards ceremony, the Yellow Jackets took time to take family photos and honored late coach Donna Riggleman by placing her jacket around the runner-up trophy as they talked about how much she guided the Yellow Jackets during her career bringing them to Wheeling many times and now as a guardian angel.
Moorefield was the Class A Region II champion and paired up on the first round with golfers from St. Marys, Pocahontas County and Sherman; meanwhile on the second round of action Williamstown joined the quartet replacing Pocahontas County.
The wind didn’t seem to bother the trajectory as much for the Yellow Jackets as they are accustomed to flying to their destination with accuracy and it was no different hitting off that initial tenth hole tee to commence the second round as Carr and Baldwin hit for par on that hole, while teammates McGregor and Reed, who was the first to tee off for Moorefield, each shot a bogey.
On opening day, McGregor was the first Yellow Jackets golfer to hit from the first hole tee since having the best Region II score, followed by Carr, Reed and Baldwin.
The second round order was Reed, McGregor, Baldwin and Carr.
“I had pop tarts and Sunny D for breakfast. I tried to shoot the lowest score I could get to help the team. I just wanted to come out here and have fun. I took my time and a lot of it was mental in making improvements today. My drives were a lot better and my long game was good. I wish I could go back and work on my putting to improve my game. I loved my first experience coming out here and hope to come again next year. It feels great with my friends and teammates to win something like this is simply amazing,” Moorefield junior Karson Reed said.
This was the first experience for Reed competing at the state championship in Wheeling, but was an observer on the previous trips gaining knowledge to apply for this opportunity.
The frost delay chilled the clubs in the hands of the golfers, but adjustments were created to help warm up the rest of the day with determination and focus.
Carr had the best score among the Yellow Jackets on the first hole with a par of four strokes, followed by McGregor and Baldwin shooting a bogey, while Reed sent the ball flying to the shed off to the left boundary of the course leading to a struggle of nine strokes to cover the 442 yards before making changes to successfully hit for par on the second hole.
Carr, Baldwin and McGregor all completed the second hole with a total of six strokes apiece hitting on this distance of 380 yards for the first round.
During the second round attempts, Carr, Reed and McGregor each sliced one stroke off apiece for five total and Reed took six strokes.
The third hole had a bunch of small mounds leading to a larger mound where the hole was situated and the fairway was a bumpy ride like a slalom skier challenged the designer or something with a distance of 412 yards with par-4 rating.
Carr needed six strokes (double bogey) on the first day to master the third hole, but hit for par on the second round of competition (four stokes).
Baldwin and McGregor also hit for double bogey on the third hole during both rounds, while Reed hit seven and eight strokes.
The fourth hole was a majestic one as the golfers hit off the top of the hillside launching the ball over a small pond below leading up to the green with a rocky border along the shore at a distance of 148 yards for the shortest of the course.
This season there were no deer dancing along the pathway to distract the golfers and the wildlife remained hidden for the most part aside from some birds and squirrels spotted along the entire course.
McGregor’s second round shot on the fourth hole nearly rolled in for a hole-in-one, but one extra stroke was needed for birdie shot and the first round score was a bogey at four hits.
Carr hit for a bogey and a par on the fourth hole, while Baldwin made par and a double bogey with Reed recording a bogey on both rounds.
Whether having cookies, pop-tarts or nothing at all for breakfast prior to the second round, the Moorefield Golf squad was confident and focused to cut down on the dozen stroke deficit behind Williamstown and the challenge was accepted to surpass those Yellowjackets with fuel from lunch enabling the stamina to keep going strong on each hole.
As a team, Moorefield Golf had 14 holes resulting in a par on the first day of state competition and the second round featured 17 pars plus two birdies overall (Carr and McGregor).
Carr’s best holes on the first day were: 1, 5, 9, 17; McGregor’s best were: 5, 14, 15, 16; Baldwin’s best were: 4, 8, 13, 18; Reed’s best were: 2 and 7 for pars.
On the second round, Carr hit for par on seven holes (3-6, 10, 15, 18) and made two birdies (7 & 13); while McGregor shot for par thrice on 5, 16, 18, plus a birdie earned on hole 4.
Baldwin shot for par twice in the second round (5 & 10) and had six bogey strokes, while Reed finished with five pars (5, 9, 14-16) plus four bogeys.
During the second round, the 14th hole kept the challenge going as the longest hole at a distance of 536 yards starting with a tee shot approach surrounded by trees making it difficult to land on the fairway as the tree limbs hugged the flight path and the final shot approach had a pond to skip over to the green and it was covered with algae this season.
Reed and the rest of his quartet had their tee shots ricochet off of tree branches or trunks as the sound could be heard in the galleries down the path.
Despite the initial struggle, Reed closed out the 14th hole with a bogey and a par which was the same for McGregor.
Carr hit for a bogey during both rounds on that hole and Baldwin needed double bogeys.
On the 17th hole, Reed’s shot during the second round landed in a group of trees just down from the cart path below the green and was the only member of his quartet not to land the ball in the sand trap with a total of six strokes and seven on the first day.
Carr had the best outing on the 17th hole among the Yellow Jacket with a par on the first day, while getting double bogey on the second round, while MCGregor hit for a bogey on both rounds.
Body language during the golf tournament showed the confidence or overall emotion for each golfer and on the 18th hole, Baldwin made a dramatic pose bending backwards as a long putt ended up passing just across the lip of the cup and had par and double bogey for the two days.
Moorefield coach Wade Armentrout was a spotter during the first round, but the second day of state tournament was given the opportunity to drive his cart around following his team and provided water and snacks for them throughout the course.
Baldwin was all smiles after hitting for par on the fifth hole during the second round which was a one stroke improvement over the opening day.
On the final hole of the state championship for Carr, there was a delay waiting for Baldwin to finish and he relaxed on the tee area juggling the golf ball as this talent entertained St. Marys golfer Brandon Lawhorn during their conversation.
Ryan McGregor and his father Pat McGregor, who is the MHS principal, shared ideas on approach angles while maintaining social distancing on the 17th hole and completed that hole with a bogey on both days.
The Yellow Jackets knew how to keep calm and carry on to the next hole with focus and determination to earn the state runner-up trophy making school pride that much sweeter on the golf course with a new vision for future success as the program blossoms.
“We are definitely going to have a special place for this trophy. We will put some of the plaques up in the clubhouse, because we went to show our appreciation to Valley View and showcase our golf team to visitors and our community members. Oglebay is a really tough course and our focus was the key. What we scored yesterday was a really good team score and we decided today we would make our push. I thought we were in really good shape as far as where we were sitting in third place and could bypass Williamstown. We were two shots better than the leaders today. We decided we weren’t going to be complacent with just getting here to Wheeling. Sometimes after the first day you might not feel like you did your best, but I told them we weren’t going to load up the vans with a bunch of excuses. We were going to have good stories to share when we go back home and not because we didn’t put forth our best effort and that showed today in the scores. Everybody had a better score on the second day. They are smart students and that is a testament that they can balance being a student and an athlete, but they are a great group of guys who take care of each other. You can’t be selfish in this game, you have to help each other out knowing your score contributes to the team score. They help each other on the golf course and off the golf course in the classroom. One of the parents from another school came up to me and wanted to say you have a great group of guys and their demeanor on the course was fantastic and that means a lot that somebody else recognizes that and it is instilled in them and I am just as proud of that as anything else. We have had a lot of individual golfers here who haven’t been able to crack into the Top-8, but J.J. has worked hard and has great experience here and is really proud of that achievement. We only have one senior on the team, so we are looking forward to the off-season taking it one step at a time and building for the future,” Coach Armentrout concluded.
The WVSSAC state golf championship dates back to 1954 and has been held at Oglebay Resort for the past 19 seasons.[/private]
