MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / April 29, 2000

LULING – Ryan Dishongh finished with a 6-over par 78 to help Destrehan to the Division I, Region III championship Tuesday afternoon at Willowdale Country Club.

The Wildcats, led by Dishongh, Derrick Wenning, Douglas Gautrau, Brandon Choina and Vance Core, finished with a team score of 324. Hahnville, behindJared Boudreaux, Phil Watson, Clint Ory, Ryan Moran and Jake Dempster, shot a 345 to qualify for the state tournament as well. The top two teamsand 10 individuals and ties qualified for the Class 5A tournament beginning Monday at Covington Country Club in Covington.

Other team scores were South Lafourche, behind individual champion Chris Bruce, with a 344; Thibodaux with a 348; South Terrebonne with a 350; Central Lafourche with a 408 and Grace King with a 483.

Bruce took the individual title with a 4-over par 76. Bruce shot a 1-over 37on the front nine, including birdies on the first, fourth and seventh holes. Hefinished with a 3-over 39 on the back nine.

Dishongh shot a 38 on the front side. He parred four of the first five holeson the back side and went into the 18th two shots behind Bruce. But hisdrive ended up on the left side of the fairway nestled against a tree. Afterlooking at ways to hit the ball out, Dishongh decided on a drop and finished with a bogey to finish third.

“I couldn’t get the breaks I needed on the back nine,” Dishongh, last year’s regional champion, said. “If I was closer to winning, I would have gone for itbut I was thinking more about the team. I didn’t want to lose any morestrokes than I had to. The team title is what it’s all about. Individualchampionships are nice but team championships are much sweeter.”Choina, another senior, came in with a 9-over 81 to tie for fifth with Boudreaux, Thibodaux’s Mitch Landry and South Terrebonne’s Andrew Sledge.

He had a 40 on the front and came back with a 41 on the back nine.

“It feels great, defeating our number one rival, Hahnville,” Choina said. “Mylast year in high school and we get to go to state.”Wenning finished in a tie for ninth with Ben Arcement of Central Lafourche with a 10-over 82. Wenning shot a 42 on the front side but improved to 40over the final nine holes.

“It feels great,” Wenning, who qualified as an individual with a sixth-place finish at regionals last year, said. “All that work paid off.”Gautrau finished with an 11-over 83. He finished with a 2-over 38 on theback nine after starting the round with a 45, including a birdie on par 4 16th hole.

“I expected to play well and a have a good team score and qualify as a team,” Gautrau, one of the Wildcats’ four seniors, said of what he thought the team would do going into the tournament.”Core, one of two freshman on the Destrehan team, finished with a 108.

“This is the first district title in school history,” Destrehan coach ted Davis said. “We were consistent all year. Going in, I thought how we would dodepended on how the other teams shot. We shot what we had all year. I’mreally happy for the players. They worked hard for this.”Boudreaux led Hahnville with a 9-over 81, finishing with a 38 on the back nine that included a birdie on 18. Ory had a 12-over 84 that included a 39 overthe final nine holes. Dempster shot a 44-42-86 while Moran had a 45-45-90.Watson had a 45-48-93.

“We are capable of doing better,” Hahnville coach Willie Wise said. “But theystuck with it. They kept battling. I told them before hand to let the numbersfall where they may and they fell in the right spots for us. My hat’s off toTed and the Destrehan kids. They did a good come of coming together as ateam.”

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