Some eye popping 18-hole scores were the rule of the day at the Plains Invitational golf tournament this past Friday at the Wild Horse Plains Golf Course north of town.

Among the 47 boys golfers who took part in the two trips around the nine-hole course, Bigfork’s Colin Wade was the low scorer with a sparkling 74. Wade shot a 38 out and a 36 on the way back to claim top individual honors.

Just two shots behind Wade was Seeley’s Ari Nicholas, who fired a 76.

On the girls side of the card, Keni Wade shot an 85 to top all girls, while Thompson Falls senior and fifth place state BC finisher from last year, Ellie Baxter was second with an 88. A total of 20 girls toured the course during this year’s tournament.

Nineteen boy golfers came in below the 100 barrier this year, while only Keni Wade and Baxter shot below the century mark in the girls competition.

Among local golfers, T Falls’ Cael Thilmony had a good round, shooting 88, while teammate Theo Nygaard finished with an even 100 for the day.

Plains golfer Kort Craft led the Horsemen with a 98, while Hallie Corbin was tops among the host team girls with a 121. Plains junior Drew Carey finished with a 104.

Superior’s boys were led by Carter McLees 85, while fellow Bobcats Phin Cataldo carded a 94.

St. Regis had two golfers tied at 98, juniors John Pruitt and James Roe.

Other local golfers with reported scorers were, from Plains, Isaiah Paserman, 124; from Superior, Owen Doyle, 114 and Brydon Drey, 107; from St. Regis, Kaleb Park, 102, Kelton Simkins, 103, and Demer Thomas, 108, and, from Thompson Falls, Mason Park, 138 and Jakob Molina, 133.

Other local girls scores were: from Thompson Falls; Aubrey Baxter, 112, and Addy Deal, 134.

Plains coach Lisa Brown said two of her golfers, Jayden Weeks and Brandt Snead missed the event due to illness.

Teams scores for the meet were not readily available due in part to the varied number of players on several of the teams, both boys and girls.

Thompson Falls coach Doree Thilmony was happy with the overall performance of her team, noting the girls did not have the required number of golfers to qualify for the team title.

“Ellie Baxter was second out of 20 girls golfers, while her sister, Aubrey improved tremendously at this competition,” Thilmony said, noting Aubrey had taken 18 strokes off her score from previous competition. She also had good words for the boys players, including Cael Thilmony, who finished with an 88.

“Cael broke through to the 80s in this competition,” she said. “He placed sixth out of 47 golfers, and Theo Nygaard dropped his score by 10 strokes”.

Earlier last week, both Plains and Thompson Falls competed in the Hamilton Invitational where Ellie Baxter again was second out of 30 girls golfers, shooting a 93. Cael Thilmony finished in the top 20 out of 54 golfers in Hamilton, chalking up a 94 over 18 holes of play.

For Plains, Snead fired a 95 to lead the Horsemen, while Corbin shot a 137 for the girls. Carey had a score of 108, Craft shot a 125 and Paserman carded a 137 in Hamilton.

Next up for Sanders and Mineral County golfers is the Bigfork Invitational this Thursday, April 20, followed by the Thompson Falls Invitational at River Bend Golf Course this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.