By LARRY MORITZ

Salina Journal

He didn't know it at the time, but one of the shortest birdie putts of Kevin Hostetter's high school career also turned out to be one of the biggest.

Playing in the final group of the day, Hostetter's two-foot birdie putt on the final hole provided the margin of victory for Salina South at the Class 5A boys golf regional Monday at Salina Municipal.

On a day when strong southerly winds made playing conditions difficult for everyone, the Cougars won their third consecutive regional title with a team score of 326, edging runner-up Hutchinson by a single stroke.

"Our goal today was to qualify for state as a team," Hostetter said. "All of the guys showed a lot of character and I couldn't be more proud of the results.

"We were able to step up and grind it out through the wind today. With the conditions and the competition as tough as it was, we knew it was going to be brutal, but our guys played outstanding."

Only the top three teams from the regional tournament advance to next week's 5A state meet at McPherson's Turkey Creek Golf Club. South qualified a team for state for the seventh consecutive year and will join Hutchinson and third-place McPherson in sending teams to state from the Salina regional.

Although Salina Central did not qualify as a team, the Mustangs will be represented at state by freshman Thatcher Keast, who gave Salina a regional sweep of the individual and team honors.

Keast shot a 6-over 76 in his first high school postseason meet to win medalist honors by two shots over Hostetter. They were the only two players to break 80.

"My goal was to make it to state my freshman year," Keast said. "Now it's time to set some new goals for state and for next year."

Hostetter was one of three South individuals to earn top 10 medals at Monday's regional. He was joined by teammates Ryan Wofford and Austin Hoppock, who both finished with rounds of 82.

Wofford and Hoppock participated in a four-man playoff for sixth place, with Wofford eventually earning seventh and Hoppock taking eighth.

South's Daniel Xaysongkham and Eric Tallant both finished with 84s and were one shot out of a tie for 10th place.

"We haven't had any tournaments this year where we've had four guys all play well at the same time," Hoppock said. "It was a rough day out there but we put four scores together today and hopefully we can carry that into next week."

South's score of 326 was identical to the total it shot one week earlier when it finished fifth out of six teams at the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League meet.

"I'm extremely proud of their effort and the way they grinded it out," South coach Dan Smith said. "As a team we visited after the league meet and we knew we had the home course advantage this week.

"Kevin Hostetter commented at the time 'We just have to regroup,' and that's what they did. We had to play well to have success against the teams we were competing against today."

Hostetter was coming off a double bogey on No. 17 and wasn't aware that the team title might be decided by his performance on the last hole. He was 225 yards out after his drive on the par 5, 529-yard 18th, and his second shot with the wind came up slightly short.

"It was a solid second shot but it was about five yards short," Hostetter said. "I hit a little sand wedge spinner in there to two feet and tapped it in.

"When we got to 18, I didn't want to know where we were as far as the team scores. I figured Hutchinson had a good score because they've been good all year. But to see the results after that birdie ... it was a good feeling."

Keast could certainly feel good about his performance as well. His round included a lone birdie -- on the par 5, 7th hole playing with the wind -- and seven bogeys.

"To be honest, I didn't think about winning regional," Keast said. "I'm certainly happy with the way I played but I'm also surprised with the results.

"I didn't think the home course advantage would be that big of a deal today with the way the wind was blowing. This course is usually pretty forgiving, but with the wind like it was, it made it very difficult."

"We have this deal where I try to predict the winning score at tournaments," Central coach Patrick Newell said. "I told Thatcher before we started that a 76 or something around there would win today.

"He had a great ball-striking round and now (Turkey Creek) suits his game pretty good for state next week."

McPherson's Graham Yowell (9th) was the only member of his team to finish in the top 10, but the Bullpups had five scores between 82 and 86. That allowed McPherson (336) to slip past Hays (340) for third place in the team standings.

Although the Indians came up just short of qualifying as a team, Hays will be represented at state by two individuals. Trey Herman shot an 81 and won a playoff for third place on Monday, and Shelby Steffen also qualified with an 85.