Mercer sitting in second
Flathead’s Marcella Mercer shot 82 and is one stroke off the lead after the first round of the Kalispell Invite on Wednesday at Northern Pines Golf Club.
One shot separates Mercer and Missoula Sentinel’s Emily Garden, who sits atop the girls field heading into Day 2 of the tournament, which will be held at Glacier View Golf Course in West Glacier.
Glacier’s AJ Grande and Flathead’s Sam Elliot are tied for 10th on the boys leaderboard after scoring 79 in the first round.
Connor Mora is the leader in the clubhouse following a 71 in Round 1. He was the only player to break par in the tournament’s opening round, and the round led Great Falls to a second-place spot in the team standings, two strokes behind crosstown rival Great Falls C.M. Russell, heading into the second and final day of play.
Glacier is fifth in the boys team standings, and Flathead sits in sixth place, 14 strokes back.
The Flathead girls edged Glacier by one stroke on Day 1, but both teams — similar to their counterparts on the boys side — are well behind the leaders.
The Great Falls girls carry a three-shot lead over Missoula Sentinel into the second round.
Play resumes at 10 a.m. today.
Kalispell Invite
At Northern Pines Golf Club
Wednesday
Boys
Team results
Great Falls CMR 300, Great Falls 302, Missoula Sentinel 321, Missoula Big Sky 332, Glacier 334, Flathead 348, Missoula Hellgate 348, Glacier JV 361, Columbia Falls 363, Flathead JV 467.
Top 15 individuals
Connor Mora, Great Falls, 71; Rylan Periman, Great Falls, 73; Duncan Hollar, CMR, 74; Ben Kaul, CMR, 74; Tucker Thomas, CMR, 76; Tucker Pietrykowski, CMR, 76; Jack Johnston, Sentinel, 76; Thaine Johnson, Great Falls, 78; Blake Hasquet, Sentinel, 78; AJ Grande, Glacier, 79; Sam Elliot, Flathead, 79; Brayden Aurich, Glacier, 80; Keaton Sunchild, Great Falls, 80; Shacon Ryan, Sentinel, 80; Zach Harvey, Big Sky, 81; Ryan Harvey, Big Sky, 81; Ryan Domako, Hellgate, 81.
Girls
Team results
Great Falls 396, Missoula Sentinel 399, Flathead 428, Glacier 429, Missoula Big Sky N/A, Columbia Falls N/A, Great Falls CMR N/A, Missoula Hellgate N/A, Flathead JV N/A.
Top 15 individuals
Emily Garden, Sentinel, 81; Marcella Mercer, Flathead, 82; Hannah Fehres, Great Falls, 94; Sev Armstrong, Hellgate, 94; Blair Hebnes, CMR, 96; Kelly Jones, Great Falls, 97; Alexis Knight, Big Sky, 98; Kate Trunkle, Glacier, 98; Morgan Sunchild, Great Falls, 101; Andrea Porch, Sentinel, 101; Erin Murphy, Big Sky, 102; Cassidy Lavin, Flathead, 102; Hannah Iverson, Glacier, 104; Katrina Adkins, Great Falls, 104; Bailee Potratz, CMR, 105.
Frenchtown Invite
MISSOULA — Libby star Ryggs Johnston shined bright yet again on Wednesday at the Frenchtown Invite.
The junior standout from Libby fired an eight-under 64 at The Ranch Club, besting the field by 12 strokes and continuing his reign atop Class A.
Johnston, who has not lost a high-school tournament in Montana since his freshman season, shot an impressive 29 on the front nine and followed it up with a 35 on the back.
The race for second was won — at least in the first round — by Polson’s Carson McDaniel, who shot 38 on both nines for a four-over 76.
The Pirates — led by McDaniel and Matt Hobbs, who is third after firing 80 on Day 1 — trail Hamilton in the team competition by two strokes going into the second round.
Johnston and Polson will look to take their respective tournament titles when play resumes at 10 a.m. today at King Ranch Golf Course in Frenchtown.
Full results not available