OAK HARBOR Twelve M-P golfers went to Oak Harbor May 9, and three emerged from the day eligible to compete two days later for a slot at state.
Naval Air Station Whidbey Islands Gallery Golf Course played host to both matches, which brought the 4A Wesco teams together the seasons first real elimination meet.
In both the girls and boys competition, the 40 lowest scores over 18 holes from the Wednesday contest moved on to Friday.

Two M-P girls play another day
For the girls, Wednesdays magic number was 115. Freshman golfer Stasia Ashley and junior Tierany Winston turned in 107- and 105-stroke performances respectively.
We ended up having two make it out of the first round and shoot two of their best rounds in competition Stasia Ashley, our freshman, and junior Tierany Winston, said girls team head coach Jaci Legore Hodgins.
They both had a great first round up at Gallery, and then we were back on Friday, and we didnt do as well. But still, for them both to make the cut and score as well as they did on Wednesday was a success story for both of them.
The second day proved more difficult for Ashley and Winston. Once again, Winston narrowly edged her younger teammate, turning in a 113-stroke game to Ashleys 117.
Even though Friday was challenging for them at times, it was really good for their personal growth, because they were able to experience what a two-day tournament is like, Legore Hodgins said. It was a great experience. The whole team went up to support them. It was just a great grand finale team bonding experience for them.
To qualify for state competition at Bellinghams Avalon Golf Course, Fridays 40 finalists combined their two-day scores. The top 15 moved on.
Tough girls teams from Kamiak and Snohomish each had five golfers come out of Friday, with the Kamiak team taking the top five slots. Snohomishs Stephanie Gausman took the 15th slot with a 191-stroke game, or an 85-stroke average for each day.
Though four M-P girls fell short of the competitions second day, a couple more showed personal improvement.
Senior Capriela Brown tied with teammate Sara Rott to finish Wednesday in 121 strokes. For Brown, that marked a 14-stroke improvement over her previous game at Gallery, and was a great way to end her career as a Tomahawk, her coach said.
Winstons 105-stroke finish Wednesday was a six-stroke improvement over her 18-hole season average, and sophomore Taylor Ashton improved by the same margin in her 127-stroke game that day.
Teammates Sara Rott and Brielle Saunders finished in 121 and 129, respectively.

Pratt represents M-P boys
in district finals
On the boys side, Nathan Pratts 84-stroke game was one stroke under the cutoff. A trio of teammates came close to joining him on the course Friday. Kyle Hanks finished the par 72 Gallery course in 88, Tyler Marzolf in 90 and Justin Freeman in 92.
Nobody had a real good day, day one. The first day cutoff was 85, and we only had one, Nate was the only score below that, said boys coach Mike Otness. Whereas the weather had proven an obstacle in their practice round a week earlier at Gallery, Otness said, it did not account for their Wednesday scores.
It was just a tough day, he added. I think certainly Justin Freeman was expecting to probably shoot a score that would get him into day two. Probably Kyle Hanks was.
Like his female counterparts, Pratts score in the second day of competition was higher than on the first day. His 93-stroke game Friday combined with Wednesdays for a total of 177, about a stroke per hole behind the cutoff for the top 15.
Otness said that while he and the team had hoped for better results I was hoping we could get three guys to day two, maybe one guy to state, he said he is optimistic about their prospects and the team is young. The Tomahawks graduate only senior Klayton Schauffer, who finished Wednesday in 99 strokes.
Klayton, I think he had a blast. I think he had a lot of fun playing golf this year, Otness said. Were making progress, and if they continue to work and play and continue to develop their skills, Im optimistic for next year for these guys. Almost all of them will be back.