RIVERTON – Now that the sun is out and the birds are singing, the golf courses around Fremont County are finally able to open their doors and safely let some of the best talents around the state compete on their greens and fairways. One of those golf courses is the Riverton Golf Course and on Tuesday afternoon they were finally able to hold their annual Riverton Spring Invite.
Teams from Worland, Lander, Jackson Hole, Evanston and Cody all traveled up to the home of the State Champion Wolverine golf team and put their best foot forward, which is all the boys of Wyoming can do when they’re facing off against Riverton junior Parker Paxton.
Paxton, who broke the Powell Golf Club competitive course record last week with a 61 (-11), has already signed to play golf at the University of Colorado after his high school career is over and for good reason. He showed why again this past Tuesday as he walked away from the one-day tournament with the best score of the day.
The Riverton phenom would put up a 68 (-4) which was the best score by any high school player on the course by nine strokes. The next best score was from Lander Valley’s Riley Stoudt who has been extremely consistent all during the spring and fall seasons.
Right behind Stoudt was another Riverton Wolverine, Brodie Dale (below), who has stepped into a strong role on the State Champion Wolverines’ team. Evanston would round out the top five with both fourth and fifth, followed closely by Lander’s Hunter Kihn (84).
As for the girls it was Evanston in the lead with both of the top-two scores belonging to the Lady Red Devils. Kalli Fackrell (93) and Allison Sanchez (94) finished in Riverton with the best scores in their division, with the best score from Fremont County coming from Riverton’s Tylynn McDonald (101).
There were also some middle schoolers golfing on the Riverton Golf Course, representing their teams on a smaller scale before rising to the ranks of high school student-athletes. Cody Middle School’s Grady Perry achieved the best score for middle schoolers with a final tally of 79.
Riverton Middle School’s Brody Hinkle nabbed the top score out of Fremont County with a 96, followed by Lander Middle School’s Peyton Young (101) and Josh Lozier (107).
In the end it was Riverton’s boys (324) taking the top spot in team scores, barely beating out Evanston’s Red Devils (331) on the Wolverines’ home course. As for the girls, Evanston (286) came out on top with Riverton (310) coming in second.
Up next, Riverton and Lander both travel to Cody on Friday along with Thermopolis for the Cody Spring Invite.
By: Shawn O’Brate
