Nix’s ace highlights last spring meet

The Powell Panthers closed out the spring golf season with a championship finish at Cody’s Olive Glenn Country Club last Saturday. The Panthers carded a 319 team score, highlighted by Dillon Nix’s hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole. The rarity helped propel Nix to his first career top-10 finish as a varsity team member.

“That’s the first one I have ever had by a player in my 11 years coaching,” Panther head coach Troy Hildebrand said of the shot, which measured 174 yards. “But to me, that was the second coolest thing he did.”

Hildebrand noted that Nix was given the opportunity to select any hat he wanted from the pro shop in honor of his ace. The youngster selected a Denver Broncos hat for his father, who has been battling cancer.

“To see a young man with every chance to bask in the glory of a great achievement put his dad first at that time said an awful lot to me about what a great young man Dillon is,” Hildebrand said.

Fueled by the hole-in-one, Nix finished the day with an 18-hole score of 92, good enough for 10th place overall.

“This was a career day for Dillon,” said Hildebrand. “It was his lowest round ever and also the first varsity top 10 finish of his career. I was extremely proud of him and what a great way to finish the spring season.”

Four other members of the Panthers’ lineup finished in the top 10 as well. Bowen Prestwich carded a round of 74 to finish as the low individual in the standings. Brian Morse ended his high school career with a round of 79 to place fifth in Cody.

“Bowen has really established himself as one of the area’s top players,” said Hildebrand. “All of his spring finishes were in the top five.”

Jackson Roling added a round of 82 for a sixth-place finish. Pax Mitchell finished two strokes higher with an 84 to end the day in seventh-place finish.

“Pax has had some ups and downs in his game this spring, but does a great job of battling every round with the best that he has that day,” said Hildebrand. “The time he puts into the game will continue to pay off.”

As a team, the Panthers topped the seven-school field with a round of 319.

“With some proms and other events, not every school had a full roster, but we played very well,” said Hildebrand. “Any time we can keep our team score around 320, that is a good day. It was also a bittersweet day as it was our last tournament with Brian Morse, who has been a four-year letterwinner and a true staple in our program. It also looks to be Jackson Roling’s last event as he’ll be moving to Thermopolis. They are really picking up a good one from us there.”

Zane Henderson finished with a 119 for Powell and Zach Heny produced a round of 138 for the Panthers as junior varsity entries.

On the girls’ side, the Panthers shot a 321 as a team to finish as the meet runner-up behind Cody by 17 strokes. All three Panther girls placed in the top 10.

Carli Brown had Powell’s best round with a 101, tying for third place overall. Mikala Fulton added a 106 for eighth place and Tess Mitchell rounded out the scoring with a 114 as Powell was again competing without a scratch golfer.

“This was Carli’s highest tournament finish ever and as she gets more experience, she is only going to get better and better,” said Hildebrand. “Mikala has come a long way since last fall when she played in Cody for her first tournament ever. She improved by more than 40 strokes on Saturday and thought she could do even better. Tess got off to a slow start, but really did a great job of keeping her cool and holding her round together to scratch out another top 10 finish.”

The Panthers will spend the summer working out on their own before reassembling in August for the 2012-2013 season. Powell’s boys will wear the target of being the state’s defending 3A champion.

“We’ll see what next fall holds for us,” said Hildebrand. “We do need a couple kids to step up and help us out in the team race. We’ll see who that is.”