Saint Stephen's boys and girls golf teams fall short of state championship

The Class 1A state golf championship won't be coming to Bradenton.

Saint Stephen's senior Justin Wynen's sparkling 71 in Tuesday's first round was backed up by a 79 in Wednesday's final round held at Mission Inn Resort and Club's El Campeon course in Howey-in-the-Hills.

That left Wynen with a 150 total and nine shots behind West Palm Beach King's Academy's Andrew Kozan's winning tally.

Wynen took eighth, while the Falcons finished seventh after a 644 for the two rounds. David Hu (77), Qi Ming Wong (80), Eric Meng (84) and Adam Vilimosky (89) all posted lower scores for Saint Stephen's on Wednesday.

That led to the Falcons generating a 320 in the final round, four shots lower than their Tuesday performance.

Lake Mary Prep, though, claimed the state title with a 615, which was eight shots clear of runner-up Winter Park Circle Christian.

Lake Mary Prep also won the girls state title, which was contested on Mission Inn's Las Colinas course.

The Griffins accomplished the sweep with a 3-under par 573 for 36 holes. Circle Christian took runner-up in the girls division, too, as Lake Mary Prep cleared them by 16 shots.

Saint Stephen's took 11th with a 718, which was 145 shots away from the Griffins' winning score.

Falcons junior Vanessa Yan carded a 76 to finish with a 148 and the best Saint Stephen's girls finish.

That performance yielded a tie for 14th place. Orlando First Academy's Kelsey Zeng was the girls individual champion with a 5-under par 139.

The rest of the Falcons that competed on the girls side were: Michelle Yan (92), Maria Huang (99) and Kendall Miller (108). Falcons freshman Catherine Huang did not record a score for the final round.

Play returns to Mission Inn for Manatee County golfers next week with the Class 3A state tournament. Lakewood Ranch's girls team and Manatee's Gabrielle Tomeo are competing.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Saint Stephen's boys and girls golf teams fall short of state championship ."