Brown ties for 4th in State B meet

Ethan Brown is not just another good golfer, he is now a certified two-time All-State B performer for the Thompson Falls golfing team.

Playing in the State B tournament at the Ranch Club in Missoula last week, May 14-15, Brown used two identical-score rounds of 77 to total 154 strokes and tie for fourth individually. A junior, Brown also earned All-State B honors, which requires a top-15 finish, in 2018.

"Ethan always seems to find a way to peak at just the right time," coach Mike Bates said. "And he did it again last week, shoots his two best rounds of the season back-to-back at State, he really played solid in Missoula."

Sophomore Megan Baxter, who will be heading to Kalispell this week to run for the Thompson Falls track and field team, made her second appearance in a State B golf tourney last week, shooting a pair of 107s crosstown from the Ranch Club at Canyon River to finish with a total of 214 and out of the money for All-State B honors.

"I am really proud of Ethan and Megan, they represented us really well in Missoula," coach Mike Bates said. "Now we will put our heads together and try to figure out a way to get more players next year, since we will have a couple of great players to build around."

Missoula Loyola won the team race on both sides of the State B as Bucky Crippen led the Rams to the boys' title and Katie Fagg led the Breakers to the girls' crown with individual championships.

Bates is assisted in coaching the Hawks by Gary Thompson. Under the tutelage of those two, only in reverse order, the Hawk boys won Thompson Falls' only State B team championship in the sport back in 2015.

Nathan Ostwald, Jolia Buchanan and Ben Croft were the other members of the Thompson Falls golfing team this spring.

Bates observed that Montana high school golfing is making somewhat of a left-hand turn lately. He noted that the threesome Brown was playing with in the final round were all lefties. Baxter, by the way, is also a southpaw golfer.

"You don't see that too often," Bates said, "so many left-handed golfers. But we saw a lot of it last week."