District 2-1A golf: Arnold girls win, boys finish second

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Hudson Meeks may be the only player-coach competing in next week’s Region 1-1A golf tournament.

With Arnold head coach Bob McKibbin away tending to a family emergency this week, Meeks stepped in to fill his coach’s role in practice. He continued to lead by example Tuesday when he posted the Marlins’ lowest score at the District 2-1A boys golf tournament at Hombre Golf Club.

Arnold qualified for regionals with a second-place team finish and a four-man score of 348. South Walton captured the championship at 325, and Holmes County secured the final team bid to the regional tournament with a 361.

Arnold won the team championship in the girls tournament with a final score of 436. The only other school to field a full team, South Walton, was second at 500. Rutherford fielded just three golfers, but all of them advanced to regionals.

The top three teams in both tournaments automatically earned spots in regionals, and the top three individuals not on those teams also qualified.

Meeks fired a team-best 79 and finished five strokes shy of boys medalist Jordin Corchis of South Walton. The effort capped a busy week for the sophomore.

“He ran the team while I was out of town,” McKibbin said. “He conducted practice, ran putting drills. I had to tell him, ‘This is what I’d like to see,’ but he was out there giving the hoorah-hoorah speeches. He’s a fine man. I’ve got nothing but nice things to say about him.”

Meeks was two shots shy of qualifying for state last year, and he said that has served as motivation this year and will continue to do so next Tuesday at the regional tournament at the A.C. Read Golf Course. That site will host both the boys and girls tournaments.

“I feel like with the competition we have I can make it to state this year,” Meeks said. “I feel like I can get in the Top 10 in state. I felt like that at the beginning of the season, and that’s still my goal. It depends where my mental game is at.”

Meeks said he also has high hopes for the Marlin team, surmising: “I expect if we all play our game like I know we can, we can place in the top five.”

To do so, Arnold will need to find an individual performance similar to that of Alan McClintock’s on Tuesday. The Marlins’ No. 4 golfer at districts, McClintock bettered three teammates with an 87 that ensured his team a regional nod.

“That was a great benefit,” McKibbin said. “Every stroke counts as you progress at this level. Last year he was our most improved player, and that carried over to this year.”

Rutherford’s Brittany Garner and Arnold’s Kali deBerry shared medalist honors in the girls tournament with identical rounds of 94. South Walton’s Mackie Myers was third at 99.

Garner and her younger sister, Bailey, both qualified for regionals. Brittany Garner said she plodded through Hombre’s Ugly course for the first nine holes, but she carded a 39 on the Good course, including a birdie on the par-5 18th.

“The Ugly I’ve never played a lot,” she said. “There’s a lot of water, and I lost a lot of balls and lost my confidence. I didn’t shoot well. The Good course, there’s not as much water and I shot a 39, which is a record for me.

“It’s the second time I played it, though. So it’s not much of a record.”

DeBerry shared Garner’s self-deprecating humor after her round, which she considered a disappointment after shooting an 88 at the county tournament. A standout tennis player, too, deBerry said she got her competitive spirit from her mom, whom she said was a former basketball player at Clemson University.

That fire should serve her well next week in Pensacola.

“Regionals is definitely more competitive,” deBerry said. “I hope I have my best round, and I hope everyone else (at Arnold) does, too. I’m hoping I shoot in the mid-80s. We’ll see how it goes.”