AUGUSTA — Red shirts flooded the results area outside the clubhouse after the Class AAA boys golf championships at the Augusta Country Club on Monday.

One school, two state championships to celebrate.

The Gainesville girls, who had posted a team score of 166, eight shots ahead of Carrollton, drove across town to meet the Red Elephant boys just as the final team scores were announced in a tight battle.

Gainesville 294, Richmond Academy 296, with Red Elephants senior Parks Brown posting the low score of the day, a 4-under 68.

A good day to be a Red Elephant.

“I think this is everything that all of us have been working for,” said Morgan Reece, who led the Lady Red Elephants with an 80 and won a playoff to finish second individually at Applewood Golf Course. “It’s great to see together that all of our hard work has paid off.”

All that was left to do on the grass in front of the clubhouse was to figure out how to get everyone in the picture.

After a tough last few weeks for Gainesville High, which included the loss of principal Chris Mance to cancer, it was a chance to just smile.

“After the week we’ve had it’s bittersweet because I can’t share it with Chris,” said Gainesville boys coach Bryson Worley. “But I know he’s proud.”

The twin Gainesville titles weren’t the only successes for area golfers, as Habersham Central’s Lee McCoy won low medalist honors with a 68 at the Class AAAA championship at Jones Creek Golf Club. White County’s Eli Crumley finished with a 78 at the Class AAA championship.

Brown’s 68 was carded with few theatrics. He posted six birdies and just two bogeys on the day, recovering after a bogey on No. 1.

Yet his simple wave to the Gainesville fans after he sank his par putt on 18 underscored just how important his score was to the boys win.

“I knew I had to come in strong for us to put up a good number,” Brown said. “But I just kind of let it happen.”

It wasn’t unlike teammate Pep Brown’s round at the Region 8-AAA championships the week prior. With Gainesville, it’s always up in the air who goes low.

“We’re just so deep, that I knew one of them would play really well today, but it was a surprise,” Worley said. “It’s fun to watch it happen.”

The coach added that it’s the depth that enabled his golfers to play so well with the pressure of being the favorites.

“The guys who don’t play are as big of a reason as the guys who did as to why we weren’t pressured,” said Worley, who added that three of his golfers who didn’t make the top six are good enough to push the starters.

As for the rest of the six who played, Pep Brown and Jackson Bishop both carded 75, Lawson King shot a 76, Grant Lasseter a 77 and Nathan Williams an 82.

Following Reece for the Gainesville girls were Meg Callahan (86) and Madeline Harr (87). At region, Reece came in as the third golfer for the Lady Red Elephants with an 87.

“I give her a lot of credit,” Lady Red Elephants coach Clay McDonald said of Reece. “She was able to come down the stretch and make some really good pars.”

Reece added that it was a relief after a tough last few weeks on the course, but she didn’t even know that her team had won until after the playoff had ended.

“I asked the coach but he wouldn’t tell me,” she said. “It’s really great because I haven’t been doing so well, but it worked out for me because I was so positive.”

And, with three sophomores leading the way for the Lady Red Elephants, the future, as for the boys, looks bright.
“It’s probably going to bode well for us for the future,” McDonald said.

For the Region 8-AAA runner-up North Hall Trojans, state marked the end of their high school careers for five North Hall seniors.

The 2011 state runners-up finished back in the pack with a 328 at Augusta. Hunter Young and Jackson Berry each carded an 80 to lead the way, followed by Andy Bracewell and Clay Hoffman at 84, Ryan Matthews at 85 and Matt McCormack at 86.

“Some days you play, some days you don’t,” said North Hall coach Robert Mills. “It’s a great golf course, we just weren’t consistent all year and this was one of our down days.”