Lake Havasu dominates Yuma schools in four-way GVR match

Despite the 107-degree temperature, Tuesday's Gila Valley Region golf match proved to be an all-knighter.

Lake Havasu dominated the boys and girls pairings, cruising to first-place finishes in the four-way match.

Blake Bradley picked up medalist honors on the boys side for the Knights with a 2-over-par 38 finish.

That led Lake Havasu, which posted a team score of 159 and had four golfers finish in the top five. Gila Ridge placed second with 183 strokes and Cibola was third with 197. Yuma High competed, but did not field enough golfers to post a team score.

Yesong Han shot a 7-over 43 and picked up medalist honors for the Cibola girls. It wasn't enough for the Raiders, who posted a team score of 206 to finish in second place. Lake Havasu had a team score of 196 while Yuma High posted a score of 243.

Despite her first-place finish, Han said she saw room for improvement.

“My drives were really good, I hit it straight, but I need to work on my putting a lot,” she said. “I was kind of tired because, before we started, I hit too many balls (on the driving range).”

Amber Owens was Cibola's second-place finisher and said she too struggled during the matchup.

“I could have done better,” Owens said, who finished with a score of 47. “Today just caught me off guard, playing against Havasu.”

Few were caught off guard by Havasu's performance. After losing the GVR boys title last year by two strokes, the Knights took the opportunity to fine tune their strokes.

“It was a disappointing end of the year last year, but putting in the time has shown (results),” Havasu coach Mike Washington said.

Washington said playing at Desert Hills, a first for his team, may have produced better results than a home tournament.

He said when his team is at their home course, they tend to play riskier golf.

“Traditionally, they play smarter when it's a brand-new (course),” Washington said. “They know that happens if they take a risk. They have no idea how it'll turn out. If they play within themselves, I think they score better.”

The Raider boys had three golfers shoot in the 40s, led by Brett Bach and Patrick Best who both carded 44. Andy Gonzales shot a 45 for Cibola. Yuma High's John Rodriguez shot a 57 and Sage Miller carded a 63.