RAEFORD — Swinging their way to another solid performance on Monday were the male and female members of the Rockingham Middle School golf team.
Meeting at Bayonet Golf Course at Puppy Creek in Raeford for their third match of the season were the 10 teams of the Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference. Rockingham and head coach Wendy Rohleder finished second overall in the team competition, the first time they hadn’t clinched the top spot this fall.
Coming in first was Anson Middle School, seeing the Rockets come in second with a team score of 210 (+66). That tally was four strokes more than the top four Rockets golfers tallied in their last outing, and the team was without Matthew Cockman, who has scored second on the team in both prior matches with an average score of 50 (+14).
Impressing again with his best nine-hole score of his eighth grade season was Rockingham’s Trace Wallace. He finished the afternoon just a handful of shots over par, posting a 40 (+4), which was one stroke better than last week, and led the entire field of golfers for the third time.
Surging ahead for the Rockets was Damon Bryant, who knocked 10 strokes off his Week 2 score. Bryant notched a 45 (+9) at Puppy Creek, his best solo performance this year. Following him were Landon Summerlin (56, +20) and Ella Munn and Austin Rainwater, both of whom shot a 69 (+33).
Next in the standings amongst Richmond County’s four middle schools were the Hamlet Middle School Red Rams, as coach Josh Peele’s team finished sixth overall. He submitted his top two scorers as Grayson McLean (49, +13) and Kevin Tabacolde (61, +25). McLean finished the match as the top Red Ram golfer for the third week in a row, while taking eight strokes off his scorecard in the process.
Ellerbe Middle School finished seventh overall, making it the second match in a row the Wildcats took that spot. Leading the pounce for the Wildcats were Camden and Conner Williams, who both shot a 59 (+23). Camden Williams dropped a couple of shots, but Conner Williams’ score was two strokes better than his performance last week.
Rounding out Ellerbe’s scorecard were James Pack (67, +31), Jordan McCormick (70, +34) and Ryder Craven (72, +36).
No information was provided for Cordova Middle School. All four Richmond County teams will be back in action next Monday in the regular-season finale at Deercroft Golf Club in Wagram. Tee times will begin at 3 p.m.
Allen Adeimy, Josh Peele and Wendy Rohleder contributed to this article. To submit local middle school scores, email sports editor Kyle Pillar at kpillar@richmondobserver.com.
