By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

AUBURN--Kennedy Catholic played good golf, good enough to qualify a few of its boys and girls golfers automatically into the 3A state championship after completed Seamount League Golf Tournament action at the Auburn Golf Course Saturday.

"Straight to state," said Kale Dyer, the Lancers' head golf coach. State is not until next May, and happens in Eastern Washington for the 3A state-best swingers. But it is nice to have that state qualification out of the way and not have to worry about playing in the spring qualifier in late April to make state.

So, "straight to state" means, for girls like the Lancers' Nikki Miller, who won the Seamount tourney, and teammate Makenzie Milton can do a little dance. They both do not need to play in the spring qualifer, where 30 golfers from league tournaments around the state square off in a crucial playoff prior to state play. For the qualifier in the spring, only the top 10 scores move on to the state tournament.

So, Milton and Miller don't have to do that nervous stuff. And that was as expected, as these state-going two Lancers golfers, along with graduated senior Rachel Navarro, represented the Lancers at state last year and, together, took third place in the state.

"I expected the girls to have a solid season under the leadership of senior Nikki Miller, and the great play of sophomore Makenzie Milton," said Dyer.

Jake Ryerson and Ryan Sheardown can do a little shake and bake, too, as they need not play in the spring qualifier, either, having taken one of the top three places in the Seamount tourney.

The Lancers' Evan Galando will be there at the spring qualifier as well as Todd Johnson (83), and Addie Hedge (105) for the Lancers girls, Highline junior Jacqueline Kemp also made it.

Galando shot a 77 and he went to the spring qualifier last year, too, but didn't make it past the cut. Today was good for Galando.

"I shot an 82 on this course last year," said Galando.

So improvement there. And the conditions were not to a golfer's liking.
"It was really cold out, but at least it didn't rain," said Galando.
Walking in the grass was an often mushy experience for the golfers, with puddles on a couple holes like the 17th, and the ball just kind of stuck on the grass, seemingly in a lot of places off the green. Some sprinkles of wet stuff came right at the very end of the nine-hour tournament, but was virtually unnoticeable as it stopped quickly on this cloudy, overcast day.

Milton was happy for her senior teammate, Miller, to win this time around.

Miller shot an 81, a good score for her on this course, by a few strokes over last year's total.

"It's really good that she got first, she's a senior," said Milton.
Miller was happy, too, what with improvement in her score and a teammate going with her straight to state.

"Me and Makenzie qualified for state," said Miller. "I played here last year and I shot an 86."

Milton won the Seamount tournament last year, and that was as a freshman. She shot a 76. This year, Milton shot an 86, with one notable hole, really, where she flawed, hooking the ball off the ninth hole tee so that it wound up to the left, in an area with tall trees, shrubs and uneven, tall grass.

"Yeah, that was bad," said Milton, who didn't do that badly despite that driving woe, as it was a seven-shot ninth hole for her and everything else was five, four or three besides the first hole's six score.
Milton's drives were not the problem, and, approach shots were solid, landing, mostly, on the green, from the fairway coming, so, strong and straight long and medium balls. Milton just missed a few putts on the course, to alter her final score some.

"I was on the edge with putts, always on the edge, with birdies and pars not going into the hole," said Milton.

But, that said, Milton did make a nice putt to end her day on the 18th hole.

"It was a long putt for birdie," said Milton of an estimated 20-foot putt into the hole from far out on the green.

"Even if you have a bad hole, you want to keep going," said Milton, who played in her four-player pod with the Pirates' Kemp. The two enjoyed each others' company throughout, being in the No. 1 group of girls players.

And Kemp added to what Milton said there.

"Yeah, if you let something bother you, it's going to get exponentially worse," said Kemp, who shot a 104, and the cut-off for the girls side is 112. So, Kemp does go on to it next spring, with a qualifying score there meaning state.

To get this far, Steneson helps the boys, mainly, and, the main girls coach is Ken Duvas for the Pirates.

"He's helped me with chipping, sand, basic form," said Kemp. "Basically, he's helped me with everything."

Kemp and Milton enjoyed this time through the course for the Seamount tourney. Kemp met Milton through an off-course way, for their friendship that was apparent as the two talked to each other joyfully throughout the 18 holes.

The two met through one's mutual acquantance, a cheerleader for one of the schools. And the four players in the pod knew each other, too, as they consoled each other on bad shots and cheered each other's good hits.

"Our group knew each other, that made it more fun, the jokes and joking around," said Milton.

"Yeah, like one girl, Sam, saying, 'Get in your home,' to the ball," said Kemp, of watching one girl's ball on a putt, rolling toward the cup.

Lindbergh's golfer, Olivia Jollimore, who had the roughest day of the four, hitting water and the rough several times, wasn't sure of how tense the No. 1 girls pod would be but she received good support from friends Milton and Kemp -- and a Hazen golfer.

"Surprisingly, it was fun," said Jollimore of playing with her pod, standing by Milton and Kemp after the round of 18.

Shane Steneson, the Pirates' head golf coach, said that Kemp did things right on cue.

"That's exciting for her, she's going to the spring qualifier, that was her goal," said Steneson.

Noah Voges, the No. 1 golfer for the Pirates, did not make the cut as there were 2A Liberty and Sammamish golfers included in this Seamount tournament who were able to get their scores added to his in that classification. They did have a league tournament so they joined the Seamount's. But Voges did well for himself.

"He shot an 81 and was 104 last year," said Steneson.

Ryerson, who was first with a 75 score for the Lancers but not first overall, and teammate Sheardown, just behind him with a 74, were tough as always on the grass, with Ryerson having been named Seamount golfer of the year -- which was Milton's honor this season, too.

Sheardown liked his game and goes freely to state now, although he thinks he could have been shooting what the winner shot -- a 69 -- or even better.

"I ball-struck it pretty good, hitting the ball farther and farther. I have the golf swing to win tournaments. I just need to make it happen," said Sheardown. "I have to learn to score on the golf course. I just hit it too good. And I need to finish better. My short game, putts, is letting me down. I need to get down to 30 putts a round instead my normal 35 now. Then I will shoot a 69 to 71. I have the potential to shoot in the mid 60s when I putt good. I just need to finish and I can win state in my mind."

A Foster girl, Mikayla Kato. a junior, shot a 114, and was two strokes from qualifying for the spring qualifer.

Kato was milling around with friends afterward, getting shown pictures on a friends' phone, being Midori Rollins, who is a Bulldog, too, along with another friend, Erin Leasure, as both watched Kato on her 18 holes of golf.

"Look at her, she's laughing with friends now, but inside she's heartbroken," said Matt Shields, Foster's golf coach. "She did awesome out there. Under the most pressure she's ever experienced, she played the best golf she's ever played. I think she learned a lot about herself today, in a good way. She needed a seven on the last hole and she got a nine."

Final hole woes, just missing the cut by two strokes, Kato's feelings on all that were as one could expect.

"Sad," said Kato, when stopped, for a few seconds, as she was laughing at photos on a smartphone with Midori and Leasure.

"I think it got to me, knowing that if I didn't get a certain number, I wouldn't get it," said Kato.

Kato's game was pretty good. There were a lot of sand traps and muddy grassy ground, and water pools on a couple holes. She put her ball in the water on one, but no sand trap hits.

"I put the ball in the water the last hole," said Kato.

That water shot was the difference for Kato, being a two-stroke penalty.
As far as Matt Shields, her coach, Kato said, "He's very willing to help you do your best. He's very supportive."

Others who competed at the Seamount Golf Tournament were the Pirates' Nick Joyal and Nick Hovlund, plus Tommie McNeil and Kim Hansol. And, for the Lancers, Emily Porter and Natasha Scandiffio, plus Jacob Green and Alex Smith.