The preparations have been made and the tee times are set.
The road to Wheeling starts Monday for Class AA and Class A in Region 3, while Class AAA will decide its state tournament participants Tuesday.
Class AA will be played at Grandview Country Club at 9 a.m., while Class A will be contested at Pipestem State Park starting at 10 a.m.
The Class AAA tournament will be played in Charleston at Berry Hills Country Club beginning at 8 a.m.
Each team is comprised of four golfers with the three best scores counted as the team total. The two best team totals will qualify for the state tournament. The two lowest individual scores not on the two winning teams will also receive a state tournament berth for the individual competition.
In Class AA, Region 3 has been the standard bearer over the last six season having four state champions and one runner-up finish.
This year the top team could very easily come from Region 3 once again.
Shady Spring is the defending Class AA champion and returns a solid team with plenty of experience in regional and state tournament play.
Add in the fact that Shady Spring is very familiar with the course layout at Grandview and the Tigers feel they are once again contenders to make a trip to the state tournament.
Tanner Vest, Jordy Townley and Hayden Wood are the three returning veterans of post-season play for Shady Spring head coach Greg Daniel and they will be joined by Zach Smith.
“I just tell them to take it one shot at a time. Don’t let one shot affect the next one,” Daniel said. “The first person that can relax out there has a huge advantage.”
Westside last won the state championship in 2018. The Renegades roll onto Monday’s regional with two of the best junior golfers in the state.
Tanner Walls and Kerri-Ann Cook are coming off decorated play this past summer and both have carried that over to the high school season.
Cook qualified for the state event last year and finished third overall
A solid round from Owen Haman or Wyatt Osborn could send Westside back to the big dance.
Herbert Hoover was the surprise of the region last year, earning one of the two team spots in the state tournament. Hoover returns a strong team and could be the regional favorite this year.
“This is the strongest team that I have had since I have been here,” Herbert Hoover 12th year head coach, Eddie Gray said. “I have had individual qualifiers for the state tournament, but we had never made it as a team until last year, as long as I have been coaching.”
The Huskies are led by senior Bryson Beaver, along with Sawyer Osborn, Max Bowen and Sam Phillips.
All four golfers are more than capable of shooting rounds in the 70’s.
“Max played our No. 4 spot last year and he came in with a 77 which put us over the top,” Gray said. “We were shut down last year from Aug. 27 up to the regional tournament. We couldn’t have any organized practices or play any matches. They came out here and performed well enough to get us to Wheeling.”
Class AAA will also be a hotly contested battle between Woodrow Wilson, Oak Hill, Greenbrier East and perennial power, George Washington.
The Patriots won the state championship in 2018 and were runner-up to Wheeling Park last year.
The Flying Eagles finished third last year in Wheeling and have three players back with state tournament experience.
Zan Hill finished fourth overall last year, while Jonah Wilson was 16th and Tucker Lambert finished 33rd.
Freshman Ian Thompson will join the returning threesome in Woodrow’s bid for another trip north.
“I thought we would be pretty good this year, but I wasn’t sure how fast we would progress. We are playing pretty solid right now,” Woodrow Wilson head coach Butch Freeman said. “It is no given that anybody will get there this year.”
Oak Hill head coach Matt Sydnor has said this group of Red Devils is the strongest team has had during his coaching tenure.
Leading Oak Hill’s charge is senior Jack Hayes who qualified as an individual last year and finished 26th overall.
Hayes has been red-hot so far this season winning six low medalist honors. He will be joined by Zane Wolfe, Ian Maynor and Bethany Rosick.
Zach Patton has been the stalwart for the Spartans this season who has featured a balance team throughout the year. Joining Patton in Greenbrier East’s bid will be Josh Roshau, Evan Vaughn and Ryan Meadows.
George Washington has another strong team this year under veteran coach, B.J Calbrese. The Patriots return three of the top four players from last year’s team led by senior Anderson Goldman.
Mario Palumbo is the Patriots No. 2 player, but Calabrese says the next two spots have been a revolving door all season. Austin Willard and Sam Alderman will get the nod for Tuesday.
“Woodrow Wilson, Greenbrier East, Oak Hill and Princeton all present a challenge in this region,” Calabrese said. “All of them consistently have a successful golf program and certainly no team can overlook those teams come tournament time.”
“Although we might be considered the favorites, we have been consistently inconsistent this year which is a worry for any coach. The potential is there for another run at the state championship, but we certainly have not peaked so far this season.”
The local Class A region has been dominated by Charleston Catholic recently, with Pocahontas County and Webster County fielding good teams. All three are expected to contend again this year with Summers County being a dark horse that could crash the state tournament party.
The state golf tournament is 36-hole event and will be held at the Speidel Golf Course at Oglebay Park in Wheeling on Oct. 5-6.