The race for one of the top three spots from the Northern 4A into the NIAA/U.S. Bank State Championships in golf still appears to be wide open.
Carson High placed sixth in a regular season match on Tuesday at Wild Creek Golf Course in Sparks, virtually clinching one of the top eight spots into the zone tournament. The Senators are in seventh place in the Northern 4A standings, two points behind Douglas with one regular season match left this Tuesday in Elko.
On Tuesday, the Senators finished just eight strokes back of second place Galena. Carson finished with a 429 while Galena had a 421. South Tahoe won with a 412.
Galena was followed by Reed (422), McQueen (425) and Reno (429). Douglas finished seventh with a 433. Galena's Bryson Young was the low score medalist with a 2-over-par 74.
"It looks like we're definitely going to qualify for zone," Carson coach Paul Croghan said. "Just getting in is the main thing. Hopefully everything comes together for two days at zone."
Steve McQuirk led Carson with a 7-over 79, despite having no birdies on the tough greens at Wild Creek. McQuirk has averaged around 80 all season.
"That's a good score," said Croghan about McQuirk's finish in Tuesday. "He's been our steadiest player all year. He's got the right attitude. He kind of takes what he gets."
Carson may have finished much higher if Shawn Heinz, who shot a 93, didn't have an off day.
"That's the worst score he's had all year," Croghan said. "But that's golf. You have those days.
"It was possible if he shoots an 80 or low 80s, we'd be top three or four anyway."
Other scorers for Carson were: Tim Hohl, 85; Bryan Upton, 86; Tyson Roser, 88; and Chad Gilmore, 91.
Carson will play in the Northern California Invitational at Plumas Pines on Saturday.
