Medalists! Members of the Port Aransas High School Lady Marlins golf team pose for a photo at the regional tournament held at Brenham April 18 to 19. The team took third place. From left: Meagan Forrest, Kelsey Ortiz, Kelsey Abel, Rachel Davis, Kalani Balcom and Maddison Shannon. COURTESY PHOTO BY CHRISTIE ORTIZ Kelsey Ortiz can plan on spending Monday and Tuesday, May 9 and 10, in Austin. She’ll be at the UIL state golf tournament, representing Port Aransas High School.

Ortiz finished a two-day regional tourney on April 18-19 with a total score of 182. That got her fourth place among 86 girls in the tournament and qualified her for the state meet.

Kelsey Abel, Kalani Balcom, Rachel Davis and Maddison Shannon also competed on the girls team, which finished third in the tournament with a two-day score of 868. However, only the top two teams from the regional tourney advance to the state level.

Tyler Burns competed as the boys medalist for the Marlins and improved his score by 13 strokes, but did not qualify for the state meet. Burns shot 115 for the tournament.

The girls team found itself in fourth place and 10 strokes away from third after the first day of the tournament, coach Kris Jones reported. Winds were gusting to 40 miles an hour and made play difficult, he said.

“On Monday evening, we talked about improving our scores individually to give ourselves a chance to medal and secure third place,” Jones said. “Our kids then went out and competed and we shaved 14 strokes off our first day total to finish in third place with a two-day total of 868.

“I am very proud of our kids’ efforts and their representation of Port Aransas.”

Ortiz will compete on the Morris Williams municipal golf course in Austin at 4300 Manor Road, just east of the old Robert Mueller Airport. Eight teams and eight individual players will be in the 1A-level tournament.