At the end of a long day, Polk County golf coach Pat McCool could still hardly contain his excitement.

The Wolverines took advantage Thursday of having the final round of the Western Highlands Conference golf tournament on their home course at Tryon Country Club, pushing past Avery to finish second in the tourney, just 27 shots behind champion Mitchell.

Dillon Overholt’s 80 helped spark Polk County, but the Wolverines got key performances from nearly every member of the squad, including Hunter Lynch, who finished with an 89 and joined Overholt as qualifiers for the 1A West Regional on May 1 at Linville alls.

“Dillon, [that’s] his third time in the last two weeks [where he] shot an 80 or better,” McCool said. “Hunter Lynch played well with another round in the 80s. Trey Thompson helped us big today and Nick Wilson with his 94 on Tuesday was huge.

“Carson Emory shoots a 10 on the first hole and ends up with an 88, after shooting a 92 on Tuesday. I was very proud of our team this year. This is one of the teams that improve every week.”

Overholt, Lynch and Emory all earned a spot on the all-conference team with their play.

Mitchell’s Austin McGuire had a two-round toal of 166 to win individual honors, with Overholt and Mitchell’s Ty Pitman each three shots back at 169.

Lynch carded a 178, and Emory finished with a 180, tying him with Avery’s Matt Leaman for the final regional qualifying spot. The two had a playoff for that berth, with Leaman’s par on the second playoff hole winning the regional trip.

Thompson added a season-best 99 on Tuesday, while Wilson finished with a two-round total of 200.

WESTERN HIGHLANDS CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

Team Scores

1. Mitchell 348-345–693; 2. Polk County 364-356–720; 3. Avery 361-360–721; 4. Mountain Heritage 385-386–771.

Individual Leaders

1. Austin McGuire (Mit) 84-82–166; 2. Ty Pitman (Mit) 84-85–169, Dillon Overholt (PC) 89-80–169; 4. Mitchell McMahan (Mit) 92-79–171; 5. Mason Daniels (A) 87-88–175; 6. Hunter Lynch (PC) 89-89–178; 7. Matt Leaman (A) 87-93–180, Carson Emory (PC) 92-88–180; 9. Stetson Fox (MH) 91-90–181; 10. Logan Blair (A) 91-94–185.

Other Polk County players

Nick Wilson 94-106–200; Trey Thompson 105-99–204; Blake Rackley 124-111–235.

-Submitted by PolkSports.com