GOLF: Bartlesville clinches state berth
Bartlesville High School golf members Jay Wasemiller, Hudson Coats, Ethan Phelps, Nash Zervas and Carter Sauer qualified for Class 6A state championships, which begins Monday.
Courtesy photo
By Mike Tupa
May 11, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Bartlesville High School’s boys golf team boasts the two best kind of champions — the best player on the course and a genuine winner of the heart.
Both unleashed blazing efforts at the recent Class 6A boys regional golf tournament in Owasso to lead the Bruins to the state tournament — breaking a 23-year drought since Bartlesville’s last appearance as a team in state.
Casting these two huge shadows for Bartlesville at the regional were sophomore Jay Wasemiller and senior Nash Zervas.
Wasemiller burnt up the course with a first-round 66 on his way to a 36-hole total 141 — making him the regional champion despite a mercurial second round (75) in which he recorded multiple double bogeys.
Zervas, meanwhile, has proven that loyalty, endurance, plugging forward, determination, a positive outlook, confidence in the face of the hostile storm and just plain good old-fashioned grit are still the ingredients of extraordinary growth.
After sticking it out as the only senior during a miserable 3-21 basketball season, Zervas struggled out of the gate in golf. It appeared early as if he might lose his varsity spot to one of several freshmen.
But Zervas hung in there. He worked hard.
He got better.
During the regional — which he nearly missed — Zervas fired a 157, including a 77, the second-best round of any Bruin after Wasemiller.
“Nash was on the bubble of even qualifying for getting to go to the regional,” said Bruin head coach Carl Holmes. “We had 13 kids out for golf and he was the only kid who played a different sport, which meant the other guys played year round.”
To earn a spot on Bartlesville’s regional team, Zervas had to finish in the top five in the team varsity qualifier.
Mission accomplished.
“The numbers in golf they just don’t lie,” said Holmes. “He got it done. His 77 in the second round really closed the door for us in making it to state. I have a special place for Nash. The way he goes about his business is a coach’s dream. I was probably more happy for Nash than for Jay winning the regional tournament. For Nash to go out like this … is a storybook ending.”
Rounding out the Bruins’ scores at the regional were: Ethan Phelps 159, Hutson Coats 167 and Carter Sauer 170.
Bartlesville’s team score was 624 (303-321), good enough for fifth place in the regional and a spot in state. Only the top six finishing squads are advancing to state. It was a fierce scrap down the stretch at the regional.
“With five or six holes to play, less than 10 strokes separated the third to seventh-place teams,” Holmes noted.
The Bruins had to distribute plenty of the weight on the shoulders of freshmen Phelps, Coats and Sauer.
“At the halfway point, I knew we were on the bubble,” said Holmes. “I knew we had to play well in the second round.”
He counted on his trio of intrepid freshmen to step up to the challenge. They did what they had to.
The Bruins’ first-round score of 303 is the second time they’ve shot less than 305.
“It was quite a special day,” said Holmes, adding he’s going into state with the attitude his team has the right mix to win it all.
“If we shoot around 300, we have a proven chance,” he said.
The state meet is planned for next Monday and Tuesday at Forest Ridge in Broken Arrow. A 36-hole gauntlet is planned the first day with 18 holes on the schedule Tuesday.
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SYMES STARTS OUT WITH 80
Bartlesville High School’s Vivian Symes opened the Class 6A girls state tourney with an impressive score of 80.
But she slipped to 96 the second round and ended up in 33rd place (176) overall.
During the regional the previous week, Bartlesville came in eighth place, falling short of qualifying all of its golfers for state.
Symes peeled off a 91 at the regional to earn a berth at state.
Other Lady Bruin regional scorers included: Abby Kennedy, 101; Lyndee Revard, 107, Eve Vaclaw, 107 and Kirstyn Gettings, 114.