Jackson golf concludes season with sixth-place finish at state

The Jackson boys golf team concludes the 2024 season with a sixth-place finish at the Class 5 State Tournament.

Last Wednesday, the Indians were paced by Ian Lambert, who finished tied for 18th and shot a 75 on day one and a 72 on day two for a total of 147 to lead the Indians to a team score of 605 over the two days.

“It’s something we’ve prepared for all season,” Indians coach Zack Walton said. “We tried to get as many 18 hole matches as we could to try and get ready for state.”

“We tried to talk about (state) all year long,” Walton said. “We don’t want it to be something we don’t talk about because it’s a goal of ours to make it back to state and try and place.”

Following up Lambert’s 18th place finish was Marshall Earnheart-Clements who shot a 79 and a 73 to finish tied for 33rd.

Bradley Loos and Jake Miller tied for 40th, shooting 9-over-par in the two day tournament.

Rounding out the Indians’ scoring was Dru Eller who finished 14-over-par and tied for 65th.

After day one the Indians had a team score of 311, but a big bounce back in day two saw them shoot a 294.

“We just played better golf on day two,” Walton said. “Weather wasn’t that much worse. We just didn’t play well on day one and that’s golf. Sometimes things don’t go your way.”

Perhaps the most exciting part about the state finish is the fact that three of the five state participants in Ian Lambert, Marshall Earnheart-Clements and Dru Eller will return next year for the Indians.

“It will definitely help those kids out,” Walton said. “Ian and Marshall had been there before but this was Dru’s first time. I think it will help those three moving forward.”

When reflecting on the season, Walton said he is most proud of the resiliency his group showed.

“They never gave up,” Walton said. “That showed at state. We were down and out after day one but they were back in the hotel talking about how they were excited to get back out on day two and give it their best shot to get a trophy.”