POST FALLS — Home-course advantage, or just some real good golf?

For the Lakeland High boys, it was a little of both as the Hawks, led by senior Preston Roth, forged a three-stroke lead after Monday’s first day of the state 4A golf tournament at The Links.

Lakeland had three guys shoot in the 70s for a total of 306, three shots better than four-time defending champion Twin Falls.

Team and individual champions will be crowned today, as the tourney concludes with another 18 holes.

“I think Lakeland really has a chance of winning this year,” said Roth, the individual leader after the first day after shooting a 1-under-par 72, good for a one-shot lead. “We had 72, 76, 78 and 80, and those are great scores for us, especially with the wind. We played really well at districts (shooting 307), but I think we played better today as a team.”

Junior Andrew Knight shot 76, senior Tyrel Derrick 78 and freshman Dylan Knight 80 for Lakeland’s boys, who have never brought home a trophy from state since moving up to 4A in 2004.

“Like we were telling the kids — you can lose state on the first day, you can’t win it,” Lakeland coach Mario Maddy said. “That’s where we wanted to be, to put ourselves in a situation where we’re going to be able to go out there and maybe make something happen.”

In the girls tournament, Middleton shot 364 and leads Twin Falls by six shots. Bishop Kelly, which won the last three girls titles, is third at 394. Kinsley Bonfilio of Bishop Kelly, who has signed with Boise State, shot a 78 on Monday and leads by two strokes over Hannah Drake of Century of Pocatello.

Lakeland shot 397 and is in fifth place. Hawks senior Megan Cysewski shot 91 and is tied for sixth.

“I think we did well,” Cysewski said. “There’s always room for improvement, but for the most part I think we played well.”

The girls started on the 10th tee, and Cysewski made the first eagle of her career on No. 11, hitting the par-5 in two and sinking a 6-foot putt.

“I started out strong, and then I struggled a little when I made the turn, but I finished strong,” Cysewski said. “Right after I (made eagle) I thought, ‘today’s going to be a good day,’ I played awesome on the back, and then made a few dumb errors on the front.”

Roth had five birdies and four bogeys. He birdied 16 and 18, which helped put him in the last group today.

“It was definitely an up-and-down round; I didn’t hit very many good shots,” Roth said. “But I got the ball in the hole when I needed to. Playing with some really good players kinda put pressure on me, and the wind was definitely a factor today. One of the positives is, it’s my home course. It’s definitely an advantage to know the subtle breaks of the green, and know how the wind’s going to affect the ball. It’s been calm throughout the year, but today it really started to pick up, and I think that’s why a lot of guys out here struggled; they’re not really used to playing in a lot of wind.”

Maddy cited the impressive turnaround during the round of his freshman, Dylan Knight.

“You’ve got a freshman who goes out in 43 and comes in in 37 ... to have the fortitude on the first day of state to struggle on the first nine and then come back out and doesn’t shut down, come back and shoot 1-over — he keeps us in the race,” Maddy said. “And like Tyrel said, that’s the roughest 78 he’s ever shot. But they competed. Yeah, things weren’t going well at times, but they fought through it and gave themselves an opportunity.”

Brady Nelson and Preston Nelson of Twin Falls are tied for second after shooting 73s.

“I think we’re in good shape,” Twin Falls coach Steve Meyerhoeffer said. “Our 3-4-5 kids didn’t play very well today, so hopefully they can play a little better tomorrow, but it’s nice to be close. It’ll be fun.

“I would say this golf course has a big home-course advantage, for the kids that play here, because the greens are very tricky,” he added. “So Lakeland will be tough to beat; they know the golf course a lot better than we know it.”

At The Links

Par 73

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Lakeland 306. 2, Twin Falls 309. 3, Skyview 315. 4, Bishop Kelly 318. 5, Canyon Ridge 329. 6, Century 336. 7, Rigby 384.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS — 1, Preston Roth, Lakeland, 36-36—72. 2 (tie), Brady Nelson, Twin Falls, 37-36—73, Preston Nelson, Twin Falls, 36-37—73. 4, Hunter Ostrom, Bishop Kelly, 38-36—74. 5, Tregg Pickup, Burley, 37-38—75. 6 (tie), Andrew Knight, Lakeland, 37-39—76, Camren Gaschler, Skyview, 39-37—76. 8, Braden Luper, Canyon Ridge, 39-38—77. 9 (tie), Drew Lunt, Skyview, 40-38—78, Justin Higgins, Skyview, 37-41—78, Tyrel Derrick, Lakeland, 38-40—78.

LAKELAND — Preston Roth 36-36—72, Andrew Knight 37-39—76, Tyrel Derrick 38-40—78, Dylan Knight 43-37—80, Shane Hylton 48-45—93.

TWIN FALLS — Brady Nelson 37-36—73, Preston Nelson 36-37—73, Zach Malina 41-40—81, Preston Meyerhoeffer 41-41—82, Drew Meyerhoeffer 42-41—83.

SKYVIEW — Justin Higgins 37-41—78. Drew Lunt 40-38—78, Camren Gaschler 39-37—76, Jared Stensgard 43-40—83, Justin Lunt 39-47—96.

BISHOP KELLY — Hunter Ostrom 38-36—74, Tyler Allumbaugh 42-38—80, Travis Allumbaugh 45-39—84, Brody Bonfilio 39-44—83, Sam Goodman 42-39—81.

CANYON RIDGE — Braden Luper 39-38—76, Drew Schwarz 43-44—87, Troy Brown 42-44—86, Austin Dey 44-44—88, Cole Hunt 38-41—79.

CENTURY — Ian Carlson 44-39—83, Adam Ping 40-43—83, Chase Rowe 43-40—83, Jayden Yost 44-43—87, Trevor Payne 45-46—91.

RIGBY — Tate Furniss 51-43—94, Chandler Sherer 49-40—89, Alex Lugar 54-55—109, Gavin Thomas 59-58—117, Connor Geisler 46-46—92.

BURLEY — Tregg Pickup 37-38—75.

MIDDLETON — Jacob Staley 43-43—86.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Middleton 364. 2, Twin Falls 370. 3, Bishop Kelly 394. 4, Canyon Ridge 396. 5, Lakeland 397. 6, Rigby 400. 7, Century 453.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS — 1, Kinsley Bonfilio, Bishop Kelly, 42-36—78. 2, Hannah Drake, Century, 39-41—80. 3, Bailey Henley, Canyon Ridge, 44-41—85. 4, Kathryn Wagoner, Middleton, 44-42—86. 5, MJ Karst, Middleton, 43-47—90. 6 (tie), Kennedy Jones, Twin Falls, 44-47—91, Megan Cysewski, Lakeland, 42-49—91. 8 (tie), Hannah Holloway, Bishop Kelly, 48-44—92, Lindsay Taylor, Rigby, 46-46—92. 10 (tie), Katie Behrens, Twin Falls, 47-46—93, Tanner Thompson, Twin Falls, 45-48—93, Tayllore Ward, Twin Falls, 47-46—93.

MIDDLETON — Kathryn Wagoner 44-42—86, MJ Karst 43-47—90, Maddie Schlader 46-48—94, Mackenzie Wagoner 52-49—101, Brooke Davis 44-50—94.

TWIN FALLS — Tanner Thompson 45-48—93, Tayllore Ward 47-46—93, Lauren Lyda 55-46—101, Katie Behrens 47-46—93, Kennedy Jones 44-47—91.

BISHOP KELLY — Kinsley Bonfilio 42-36—78, Hannah Holloway 48-44—92, Gabbie Watt, 63-61—124, Britni Olano 61-56—117, Lizzy Godinho 53-54—107.

CANYON RIDGE — Sam Fitzpatrick 49-48—97, Bailey Henley 44-41—85, Eiza Cresto 50-51—101, Jade Higley 56-57—113, Kaily Harvard 68-60—128.

LAKELAND — Sierra Tingey 47-49—96, Haley Rotchford 47-53—100, Megan Cysewski 42-49—91, Monica Higbee 52-58—110, Madeline Neff 58-59—117.

RIGBY — Emma Pettingill 49-48—97, Arilee Arave 50-52—102, Lindsay Taylor 46-46—92, Alex Hansen 59-60—119, Aspen Crystal 58-51—109.

CENTURY — Hannah Drake 39-41—80, Emily Horrocks 59-56—115, Kaitlyn Howell 65-64—129, Riley Seibert 65-64—129, Grace Hancock 72-72—144.