Members of the Vestavia Hills boys golf team, Parker Moellinger, Wade Harris, assistant coach Todd Evans, head coach Stephanie Meadows, Jay Clemmer, Pierce Becker and Andrew Szymela.By Rubin E. Grant
Vestavia Hills golf coach Stephanie Meadows struggled to find the right words to describe the Rebels’ third consecutive Class 7A AHSAA boys state championship.
“The first one was really awesome and the second one was too. The three-peat is surreal,” Meadows said. “It’s super exciting to bring home the blue map (championship trophy) again.”
The Rebels earned their three-peat by the narrowest of margins, finishing one stroke ahead of Auburn at the 74th AHSAA State Golf Championships May 15-16 at the RTJ Grand National Golf Course in Opelika.
Vestavia Hills followed their first-round 295 team score with a round of 299 to finish at 594 – 18 strokes above par for the 36-hole tournament. Auburn shot 298-297 for a score of 595. Enterprise (302-298–600) was third and Spain Park (304-297–601) fourth.
The state title was the fifth in Vestavia Hills’ school history
“It was really close,” Meadows said. “We have good kids who are great players and they did what they had to do to win.”
Junior Pierce Becker and senior Ward Harris finished in the top 10 among the individuals. Becker shot 71-74 for a 145 to finish tied for sixth and Harris shot 74-74 for a 148 to finish tied for ninth.
Spain Park sophomore Chase Kyes shot a two-day 9-under par 135 to claim low medalist honors. Jack Mitchell of James Clemens was second, four shots back at 139. Auburn’s Will Stelt had back-to-back rounds of 71 to finish third with a 2-under 142.
Rounding out the Rebels’ group were senior Parker Moellinger (73-77-150) tied for 11th, senior Jay Clemmer (77-74-151) tied for 13th and senior Andrew Szymeia (80-79-159) in 22nd place.
The Rebels’ strategy was simply one shot at time.
“The RTJ Grand is such a difficult golf course,” Moellinger said. “You have to stay patient and make a bunch of pars. You can’t get ahead of yourself and you have to take it one shot at time.
“Our game plan was to lay up off the tee and hit fairway and go from fairway to green.”
Experience also was a factor since all five Vestavia Hills golfers were part of the past two state championship teams.
“Going in, I felt like we had a good shot to win with all five players back,” Meadows said. “I didn’t think we could just show up and win, but it was going to be a tough road. I thought if we managed the course and played the best we could, we could do it. The guys did a great job of managing the course and executing the game plan.”
Moellinger and Harris will play golf in college, with Moellinger headed to Richmond and Harris to Chattanooga.
They will have a three-peat to look back on.
“To keep the same starting five and go out with three state championships in a row is super cool,” Moellinger said.
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