HESSTON – South Gray coach Jeff Blattner said his golfers were like little puppies when they captured their first state title last year at Emporia Municipal.
 
The Rebels are certainly a whole different breed now.
 
Dominant once again throughout the regular season, South Gray continued that all the way to the finish Tuesday, winning the Class 1A boys state tournament at Hesston Golf Course by 57 shots over Hutchinson Central Christian.
 
South Gray posted four-man scores of 309 and 301 in the two-day tournament for a 610 total – a 62-shot improvement from its winning score from last May, when it topped runner-up Washington County by 12.
 
“The puppy dog feeling was over and now it’s just a feeling of accomplishment and elation that the kids did well,” said Blattner, whose team won its 20^th consecutive tournament dating back to the start of the 2023 season. “I’m very blessed to have such good kids, such good athletes. Right place at the right time, I guess.”

 
The tournament’s drama was reserved for the individual medalist battle, and South Gray’s proven clutch performer came through. Sophomore Gavin Wahl, who scored 26 points in the Rebels’ Class 1A Division I state basketball championship victory over Bishop Seabury in March, birdied Hesston’s par-5 18^th hole Tuesday for a one-shot victory over Central Christian freshman Cael Kooiman.
 
As he did most of the season, Wahl led the way for South Gray’s accomplished trio that included his older brother, Cameron, and Jaxon Koehn, the Rebels’ lone senior. All were in the top 10 at last year’s state tournament. This year, Cameron Wahl finished third, four shots off his brother’s 36-hole total of 3-over 145, while Koehn claimed fourth, five strokes behind the champion.
 
Freshman Daxton Hendrickson fired a 77 on the final day to vault into a tie for 15^th and also earned an individual medal as a top-20 finsher for South Gray.
 
“When we were coming up here, Jaxon started them off and they started talking about each hole and what you should look for, what club you should hit,” Blattner said. “And then when we were doing our practice round, they were helping the younger guys pick the right lines and showing them where to hit.

 
“They were just talking golf. To me, that’s so amazing because usually when you get kids in a vehicle, you don’t know what you’re going to get.”
 
This spring, Blattner fielded a team hungry for more success and fortified by new talent. South Gray opened its season with a 36-shot victory against mostly larger schools in the Holcomb-Garden City Invitational at Buffalo Dunes and continued to pile on the achievements.
 
Gavin Wahl won or tied for first in nine of the Rebels’ 10 tournaments. He fired a school-record 68 in the Southwestern Heights Invitational. Then South Gray set another program record with a 289 team score in its home invitational at Crooked Creek Country Club, with Koehn and Gavin Wahl each carding 69s.
 
The Rebels developed good depth with freshman Kyler Walker and sophomore Zach Hendrickson. And after winning the Elkhart regional by 23 shots, they headed to Hesston prepared to defend.
 
“They thought they could win it again,” Blattner said. “We won all of our tournaments by pretty substantial scores. So we’ve tried to keep the boys focused on one shot at a time. The next shot is the most key shot.
 
“But they read the papers and see everything else. It just felt different. There was a little more pressure where it was expected of us.”
 
The Rebels quickly squashed it, building a 21-shot lead Monday with their 309. Instead of giving up some of their lead, as they did slightly on Day 2 of last year’s state tournament, the Rebels played even better as a steady breeze challenged golfers on the par-71 layout.
 
While Gavin Wahl was the lone player under par on the opening day, the best final-round score belonged to Kiowa County’s Sawyer Campbell, who shot 72 to move into a fifth-place tie with Elkhart’s Bodie Higgins.
 
Kooiman, who shot 146 for the tournament, his brother, Ryland, and Nathan Reed, posted top-15 finishes for Central Christian, which moved up two spots after finishing fourth a year ago. Higgins, who won a regional title on his home course, led Elkhart to a 683 team score and third-place finish, 16 shots behind Central Christian.
 
With the top six teams holding their place in the final round and South Gray’s lead continuing to swell, Blattner followed his lone senior, Koehn, for his final nine holes. He credited Koehn’s leadership for an influx of youth interest in golf in their hometown of Montezuma.
 
“Jaxon really helped me get this program off the ground,” Blattner said. “He’s been so instrumental.”
 

 TWO-SHOT SWING EARNS WAHL THE WIN
 
For 27 holes, Gavin Wahl played where he spent much of the season – atop the leaderboard.
 
But after starting his final nine holes with a three-putt bogey at the par-4 10th, followed by a lost ball and another three-putt at No. 11, Wahl found himself trailing Central Christian’s Cael Kooiman.
 
“Suddenly, I was down two and I was getting worried,” Wahl said.
 
But last year’s co-third-place finisher in 1A bounced back with a 4-foot birdie putt at the par-4 12^th to pull within one. The deficit remained the same as Wahl and Kooiman reached the 18^th tee.
 
“It’s kind of the way a state golf tournament should be,” Blattner said. “It should come down to the last hole, and the Good Lord was willing. … Just a fitting end to his year, I thought.”
 
Wahl used his power to belt his tee shot far enough down the fairway on the par-5 finishing hole to go for the green in 2. He easily did that, hitting his approach on the back of the green, 30 feet from the hole.
 
Meanwhile, Kooiman, whose short game throughout the tournament put him in position to win, was unable to close it out. After hitting his second shot short of the green, he left a chip 15 feet short of the hole, then ran the birdie attempt 4 feet beyond.
 
Wahl two-putted for birdie to complete a 75, while Kooiman rimmed out the par attempt and three-putted to finish one shot shy of a playoff.
 
Even with his mid-round putting woes, Wahl said improvements in his short game allowed him to flourish this season. He made crucial par putts down the stretch that ultimately gave him the opportunity at No. 18.
 
“My chipping and putting was so bad last year,” Wahl said. “It’s what I worked on all this year and that’s the difference. I’ve always been good at hitting the ball further than everybody else, but my chipping and putting has improved, and it improved six or seven shots every tournament.”
 
South Gray’s current golf success is much about dedication to the craft. Koehn and the Wahl brothers frequently work on their games beyond the Rebels’ practice time. When practice is in session, it’s competitive.
 
“That’s probably why I’m playing so good right now,” Gavin Wahl said. “We just have so much talent. It’s kind of a challenge to see who’ll win in practice.
 
“When you lose in practice, it kind of humbles you and you’re like, ‘I’ve got to get practicing more.’”