55°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Ancell avoids disaster on first day of state

Austen Ancell, the lead golfer for the Trojans, avoided disaster on the first day of the Class 3A Nevada State Golf Tournament and remained just two strokes behind the leader, Daniel Mahlke (75) of Spring Creek at the start of the second day.

The tournament was being played at the Spring Creek Golf Course in Elko on Monday and Tuesday.

On day one, Ancell started poorly as he shot a triple-bogey on the first hole. He then bogeyed on the fourth hole, double-bogeyed on the eighth hole and bogeyed on the ninth to put him 7-over par on the first nine holes.

“I was watching his front nine and it was the worst golf he posted all year, but he came back,” Ryan Ancell said. “I never got him a personal coach but what we did was teach him that he has to keep his head in the game.”

Ancell did just that and came back on the back nine with three birdies on holes 14, 15, and 16 which gave him a 6-over-par 77 for the day and just two strokes behind the leader, Daniel Mahlke of Spring Creek, who shot a 75.

“A lot of kids would have folded after playing so poorly on the first hole, but Austen reset on the back nine,” Ryan Ancell added.

Ryan Ancell, Austen’s father, believes his son still has a great chance of winning.

“To win he has to get a better start than he did yesterday,” Ryan Ancell said on Tuesday. “After his first birdie, he told me he just kept going.”

That is what he will have to do on Tuesday, just get a good start and keep going.

Ancell has some high hopes for the tourney. He already has one state title under his belt, he just won his first individual regional title last week and hopes to win his second state title on Tuesday.

The Trojans boys golf team went to state on Monday and Tuesday and also had high hopes of winning state for the first time, but after the first day the Trojans are in fifth place with a score of 468. Spring Creek was in the lead (398), then Lowry (432), Churchill County (441) and Boulder City (467).

The next best golfer for the Trojans was junior Michael McDougall, who shot an 87.

The team’s members are Ancell, Case Murphy, Craig Moore, Michael McDougall, Koby Lindberg and Riley Sutton.

Contact Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
SOFTBALL: Trojans top Moapa, fall to Needles

The Trojans softball team suffered their first loss this season against a school from a neighboring state on Monday, but it also added a win in a weekend game against Moapa Valley (2-1) at home.

Muckers baseball off to 1-3 start this season

By the end of the weekend, the Tonopah Muckers had played four games, where they scored over 17 runs.

Muckers start softball season 1-3

Tonopah softball started their season over the weekend with four games on Friday and Saturday.

RODEO 2024: Here are the winners

The Nevada State High School Rodeo was in Pahrump last weekend where junior and senior high school students from around the state came to compete after their winter break.

Trojans girls basketball moves on to the quarterfinals

After Avery Moore stole a pass from the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) girls basketball team she passed the ball to Paris Coleman who ran up and scored the team’s fourth two-pointer in less than two minutes.

Pastor opens boxing gym for Pahrump youth

Pastor Ruben Bajo, of Full Armor of God Ministries in Pahrump told the Pahrump Valley Times that decades ago the sport of boxing saved his life and kept him off the streets of Los Angeles.

Trojans struggle in nail-biting 4th quarter against Chaparral

It was all up to No. 14 Daxton Palmisano from the Pahrump Valley boys basketball team with less than 10 seconds on the clock to score a three-pointer to get the Trojans into overtime in a hard-fought game on Wednesday.

Trojans boys basketball on 3-game winning streak

Three wins in one week from the Pahrump Valley boys basketball team last week after they won at home against the Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon in a tight match that ended 59-57.