The Washington Demon boys’ golf team secured a third straight team championship at the Southeast Conference Tournament yesterday at Washington Golf & Country Club. The Demons finished with a combined team score of 316 strokes, 26 less than second-place Fort Madison and almost 30 better than third-place Mount Pleasant.

Washington was led to another conference title by Cole Vetter. The senior shot a career-low round of two-over-par 72 over 18 holes, thanks in part to shooting one under on the front nine, and was the individual tournament champion. Afterwards, Vetter told KCII Sports that he got past a bit of a slow start pretty quickly.

“I started [with a] bogey, which didn’t help,” Vetter said, “but [on] my second hole I made a really good shot and stuck it to maybe 10 feet [from the hole] and made the birdie [putt]. And then I had a good up-and-down the next hole and just started playing [and] not missing any shots [or] any putts and just kind of knew it was going to be a good day.”

Drew Conrad finished second overall with a four-over 74, while fellow Demon junior Carson Brown and senior Conner Leyden each fired an 85 to tie for seventh on the individual leaderboard and secure All-Tournament Team honors.

Sophomores Ethan Peebler and Kaleb Orr added rounds of 89 and 94, respectively, as Washington not only wins the conference crown for a third straight year but also wins its 19th straight conference event.

Demons head coach Collin Stark told KCII Sports that it speaks to the depth of his roster that new faces continue to emerge and succeed for the team when the biggest meets of the season arrive.

“It’s not just the top four [scorers],” Stark says. “It might be where there’s a tie, and it always goes to that fifth or sixth score, and it just always seems like there’s those stories every single year in the postseason. You never know when your score matters.”

The Demon girls would host their annual Washington Invitational on Monday at Washington Golf & Country Club and finished with a team score of 488. Senior Lauren Hinrichsen and sophomore Lucy Sands each shot a team-best 114.

Highland was also part of the Washington Invitational and was second as a team, as their score of 374 was only 23 strokes behind the winners from Lisbon.

Emersyn Schultz shot a 13-over 83 to lead the Huskies and was second overall, while fellow junior Adisyn Prottsman was fifth with a 93 and senior Adeline Krotz was one spot behind her with a 97.