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South Jordan Journal

Bingham golfers exceed expectations, finish third at state

Nov 12, 2019 02:49PM ● By Josh Mc Fadden

Garrett Bland hits the ball at the state tournament. He placed second overall at state. (Photo courtesy of James Applegate)

By Josh McFadden | [email protected]

The Bingham boys golf team entered the state tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Miners certainly didn’t finish that way.

At the two-day event, Sept. 30–Oct. 1 at Meadow Brook Golf Course, Bingham placed third among the Class 6A field. Bingham scored 593 points, just behind runner-up Davis, which had 591. Lone Peak ran away with the title, totaling 664 points. After the first day, Bingham was tied with Davis for second with 294 points, just six strokes behind Lone Peak. 

“The team did great!” head coach James Applegate said. “Most of my kids either shot their low score for the year or were really close to their low score for the year in competition. I couldn’t be more pleased with how they competed at state.”

Six Miners qualified for state: senior Garrett Bland, junior Keaton Cervinski, junior Levi Edwards, junior Tyson Pfister, junior Jace Russell and senior Nick Davis. Applegate said all these players stood out. Everyone but Edwards had at least one score both days that counted in the team’s totals. 

Bland finished tied for second overall in individual scores. He hit a 141 over the two days, just one stroke behind the winner. Pfister had the second-best Bingham score with a 149, while Cervinski was right behind with a 150.

Applegate said he believes his squad accomplished everything he asked of it. 

“Our goals as a team included getting better each day and having as strong as a finish at state as we could,” he said. “I feel we were successful in those areas.”

Applegate also loved watching his players improve throughout the year. He said everyone worked hard to get better in all aspects of the game. 

“Looking back at how they finished last year to where they got to this year, they put in a lot of time and effort,” he said. “I will remember how well they competed at the state tournament.”

Next year, Applegate will welcome back a solid core of varsity players to the squad. Four starters will return as well as one other player who was close to qualifying for state. 

“I will have the same goals as every year: getting better each day and playing well at state and finishing as high as we can,” he said. “I don’t know how high that will be, but with the returners we have, we should be pretty strong.”