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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The Spain Park Jaguars and Oak Mountain Eagles will be heading to the Class 7A golf state championship after dominating the leaderboard at the North sub-state round at Timberline Golf Club in Calera.

Spain Park earned the win in the boys competition while Oak Mountain will advance as the second-place team out of its group.

The Jags shot a 276 as a team to defeat Vestavia Hills by nine strokes and claim the sub-state championship.

Spain Park had a pair of dominant under-par performances to lead the way as Chase Kyes and Luke Ballintine tied for the individual championship with a 5-under-par 66.

Kyes finished the round with seven birdies, including five on the back nine to shoot a 4-under-par 31 on holes 10 through 18.

Ballintine only shot over par once in his round, a double bogey on hole four, as he also racked up seven birdies to shoot 33 on both the front nine and the back nine.

Joining him on the Jags scorecard was Ian Norman in fifth place with an even-par 71, Wes Sauceda in 11th with a 2-over-par 73 and Davis Gurley in 12th place with a 7-over-par 78.

As for Oak Mountain, its girls team finished in second place in its sub-state competition with a score of 241, which was behind only Hewitt-Trussville.

Kate Nichles secured the individual championship with a score of 67 on the day, three strokes ahead of Hewitt’s Merritt Daniel in second place.

The Eagles also had another pair of top 10 finishes in the competition as Laura Kelley and Reese Powell tied for eighth place after each shot an 87 for their sub-state round.

Spain Park will also have a representative at the state championship after Emma Fortier shot a 75 to earn third place in the individual standings. That finish was good enough to secure her an individual qualifier spot at the state championship and give her a chance to compete for a title.

Both the Jags and Eagles will compete in the golf state championship on May 13-14 at the RTJ Shoals’ Fighting Joe in Muscle Shoals.