Sophomore Ther Kotchasanmanee and the Darlington girls stood atop the individual and team leaderboards Tuesday to claim state titles in Class A Division I.
Kotchasanmanee shot 148 over the two-day Class A Division I state championship at Arrowhead Pointe Golf Club in Elberton to finish as the individual state champion for the second straight year. The boarding student from Thailand shot a first-round 72 on Monday and backed that up with a 76 on Tuesday to finish two strokes ahead of Prince Avenue Christian’s Claire Bradford.
Kotchasanmanee’s efforts, along with Agatha Blocker’s 180 for a sixth-place individual finish, helped Darlington shoot 328 as a team and finish 10 strokes ahead of Elbert County to win the team championship. Prince Avenue Christian finished third as a team with 345.
Blocker shot 96 in the first round but came back to finish strong with 84 in the final round to help cement the Lady Tigers’ top team finish.
The varsity boys' team had an impressive finish to their season Tuesday, finishing as runners-up at the Class A Division I state championship at Arrowhead Pointe Golf Club in Elberton.
Darlington shot 621 as a team over the two-day tournament to come in second in the team standings behind state champion Prince Avenue Christian (605). Mount Vernon finished third with 623.
The Tigers were led by Rocco Lopez, who shot 147 (74-73) to place fourth in the individual standings. Hamilton Shamblin was 10th with 156 (78-78).
Rounding out the team score for Darlington were Braden Bell (79- 81) and Philip Lataif (81-79) as the pair finished tied for 14th individually with 160. Blair Moseley was 17th with 161 (82-79).
Published in the Rome News-Tribune on May 24, 2023
