If the Carson High golf team plays as well at the Northern 4A championships as it did on Saturday, it could be heading to the NIAA/U.S. Bank 4A State Championships.
Carson placed seventh in the Northern California Invitational in Plumas Pines with a 400. Rocklin, Calif. won the event with a 381.
The Senators finished just eight strokes behind Northern 4A frontrunner Galena, who placed fourth with a 392. Carson also placed well ahead of two Northern 4A teams it will be battling for one of three three spots from the zone tournament to state: McQueen and Reno. McQueen took 10th with a 422 and Reno placed 12th with a 437.
"To my recollection that's the best team score we've had at that tournament," Carson coach Paul Croghan said. "It's a difficult course, a lot of trees.
Under the conditions, I was happy with the total. We beat two teams we've got to beat at zone."
Carson was led by Tim Hohl and Shawn Heinz, who both shot 5-over-par 77. Galena's Bryson Young fired a 75.
Also for Carson, Bryan Upton had an 80, Chad Gilmore shot an 82, Steve McQuirk shot an 84 and Tyson Roser fired a 91.
"This is the time of year that hopefully they get it together and the competition starts paying off," said Croghan about the tough schedule his team has played.
"If we shoot 400 both days, we have a good shot at state," Croghan also said about zone.
Another encouraging sign for Carson was that McQuirk's 84 was a little higher than his normal score of around 80. "He's going to play better," Croghan said.