BLOOMFIELD -- Mission accomplished.
The Bloomfield Wildcats set a goal for a top four finish in the MSHSAA Class 1 Boys Golf State Championship and brought home the hardware to commemorate their accomplishment.
"Going into this year, we knew we had everybody coming back, the five guys who went to state the year before," said Bloomfield coach Travis Westbrook, whose team finished seventh in the 2017 state tournament. "We did a little research to find out who was losing people, seniors graduating, from the six teams who finished in front of us. You can't ever account for what they are gaining, but we knew who they were losing. We knew that we had a chance of finishing top three or four, at least bring home a trophy."
Holden Duckworth, one of the team's three seniors, said, "We're a hard-working group. We knew that we had a chance to be pretty good, so we were out there all summer. We'd push each other and get better. We did and we met our goal."
Senior Dustin Debeaux said, "Previous years, we learned coming into this year that we had a chance to win state. Not that we were guaranteed a spot in the top four, but we knew that we had a chance to get there, so all of us put a lot of dedication and practice in this summer for all of us to come together and play and make sure that we're going to get a top four spot."
The Wildcats posted rounds of 349 and 352 to finish third in the eight-team tournament at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield.
Bloomfield was second after the first round, nine strokes behind first-place Gallatin and one ahead of third-place Westran. Westran shot a second-round 350 to overtake the Wildcats for second place.
Bloomfield finished five strokes behind champion Gallatin and one behind Westran.
"I feel like it was a good time for our team, the way we all contributed a lot," Debeaux said. "But five shots, we could've been there. We were in it the whole time."
Two individuals brought home all-state medals awarded to the top 15 individual scorers.
"Overall, at the beginning of the year, if you tell us we would bring home a third-place trophy, we'll take that and two all-staters every day," Westbrook said.
Peyton Bell, the Wildcats' third senior, won his third all-state medal in his fourth state tournament, posting rounds of 83 and 77 to tie for eighth.
"He's been our rock, our model of consistency the last two years," Westbrook said. "He's the one score that we know we can count on. The other four guys, it's just been three out of four of them have always been able to step up even if one of them might have a bad day."
Bell wasn't pleased with his first-round 11-over-par score.
"I was pretty down on myself," Bell said. "I was expecting a little bit more out of myself. I hit the ball well. ... I missed three putts inside of 5 feet the first three holes. I kind of got in my own head, didn't let it come to me and started forcing some things and letting the round get away from me."
Bell played with eventual tournament champion Jett Simmons, of Gallatin, who shot a first-round 1-under 71 and finished with a two-day total of 152, beating Presten Richardson, of Miller, by one stroke.
"Just knew the 12 strokes were going to be almost impossible to make up, so it was disappointing that first day because I knew the next day, it was going to be really hard to put myself in a position to win," Bell said. "That had been my goal the whole year. I knew with the team, the way Holden (Duckworth) played the first day, we still had a good chance as a team. (Duckworth was in second place after the first round.) That kind of helped me keep it in perspective and still go out the next day and try to play to the best of my ability."
Bell recovered to post the second-best score of the second round.
"I played a lot better the next day. I hit the ball better. I made more of those short putts I missed the day before," Bell said. "I actually didn't finish the way I wanted to. I had three bogeys on my last three holes, which was disappointing because, I mean at the time I didn't know, but I knew it was going to be close. To finish that way and finish five shots out of first and one out of second (as a team), it was hard to finish that way. Overall, the day was a lot better. It was a decent round to finish high school. I was happy with it."
Bell, who will play golf at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., tied for fourth (74-82) in 2017, tied for 13th (85; the second round was rained out) in 2016 and tied for 30th (90-87) in 2015.
Duckworth was the second Bloomfield player to win an all-state medal, posting rounds of 75 and 89, to finish 12th.
Duckworth was second individually after the first round. That 3-over-par first-round score caught the attention of Mineral Area College in Park Hills. The junior college offered him a scholarship for his accomplishment.
"That was awesome for him," Bell said. "We had set some goals together at the beginning of the year. One of his goals was to get all-state and the other was to get an offer from Mineral Area. That was the place he wanted to go. For that to happen at state, it was really cool. I was really happy for him."
Duckworth, who didn't begin playing golf competitively until his sophomore year, broke his femur in a car accident in November.
"After my accident, golf wasn't coming back to me as fast," Duckworth said. "I was getting worried there for a little bit. Then after the first day of state, I was getting back to where I needed to be.
"Everything was going my way (in the first round). I think it was because I wasn't thinking so much and just playing. I was shocked after the first day, coming in second."
Duckworth tied for 55th (90-97) in 2017 and was 74th (101) in 2016.
Debeaux tied for 45th with rounds of 90 and 94, improving on his 80th-place finish in 2017 (89-113).
Debeaux not only played golf but played baseball this spring.
"It was quite crazy," Debeaux said. "I think I missed three golf matches and three baseball games. Ending up, we got third place in golf. I got all-district golf and got all-conference baseball. I feel like I did pretty good as a two-sport athlete."
Levi Clary shaved nine strokes off his first-round score of 101 and finished in a tie for 61st. He finished 84th in 2017 with a two-day total of 208 (96-112).
Brant Hobbs finished 79th, cutting seven strokes off his first-round 107. He placed 86th in 2017 with a two-day total of 209 (103-106).
"Once you've been there once, the second time around, it's usually a little easier. They all improved their scores," Westbrook said. "With that improvement, that had us right in the running to win the thing this year. We only ended up losing by five shots of first. We thought we had a chance, but we just couldn't put it together."