The Bowie Jackrabbits golf team finished with a bronze medal at the state tournament on Tuesday at the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin.
The Jackrabbits got bronze for the second straight year at state and in the program’s third appearance in the last four years.
Bowie came into the tournament with confidence and experience. After last year’s team came back from several shots down to yank third place at state on the second day of competition, this year’s team was aiming for the number one spot since everyone from that team was returning.
The Jackrabbits knew it would be tough. Coming off a third place finish at regionals, with Brock beating them by 16 strokes and Lubbock-Cooper Liberty winning by 31 strokes, Bowie knew it needed to play better.
The team also knew its region was the best in the state and it showed as the state tournament played out.
The course was a new one not just for the Jackrabbits, but all of the teams at state. The plans were changed a few weeks before from last year’s course, Jimmy Clay Golf Course, to this year’s course the Grey Rock Golf Club.
The practice round for Bowie two days before was great, but it rained the day before the first round and when most of the other teams were playing on it. Thankfully, the two days of competition saw perfect conditions besides it being a bit wet early in the morning on day one.
That was when the Jackrabbits played their best. The previous two trips to state have seen Bowie teams play not its best the first day and before improving a lot on day two to jump up in the standings.
After day one, the Jackrabbits were sitting in second place. Their team score of 316 was eight shots behind first place Lubbock Liberty and four shots ahead of third place Brock. The team was even 16 shots ahead of fourth place, meaning at least a medal looked likely.
With the opportunity Bowie had, the team decided to push it and go for it, knowing both Brock and Lubbock Liberty were liable to shoot similar scores on day two after competing against both teams at regionals.
Day two was not as good as day one for the team. Three of the five players shot worse. The team shot 334, which was 18 shots worse than day one.
Brock and Lubbock Liberty only saw its scores increase by two and one, which allowed Brock to jump Bowie for second place.
The Jackrabbits still finished 18 shots ahead of fourth place Diboll to earn a medal definitively. Their two-day total of 650 was eight shots back of Brock and 33 shots from Lubbock Liberty.
Cy Egenbacher led Bowie with 80-79 for a 159 total that tied him for 10th place individually.
Andrew Sandhoff was right behind him, shooting 81-79 for 160 as he finished tied for 11th place individually.
Both are seniors and have been a part of all three state appearances dating back to their freshman season.
Rayder Mann shot 79-86 for a 165 total that tied him for 15th place. Zac Harris shot 76-90 for a 166 total as he finished in 16th place.
Hunter Lea shot 83-92 for a 175 total as he placed tied for 20th individually.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.