by Matt Wilson
Mars Hill College and the University of North Carolina at Asheville are neck and neck for possession of the most prestigious trophy in Western North Carolina disk golf.
After 18 holes of play on a beautiful Sunday, October 24, the Lions led in the second of six tournaments sponsored by the Western North Carolina Disc Golf Club. However, they found themselves a point behind UNCA in cumulative championship points. The overall lead came down to a sudden death shootout between Mars Hill's own Chance LeBron and Joshua White of Brevard, who were tied for third place.
With the yellow and red leaves on the ground on the 18th hole, Lebron failed to win with a close shot. If he had won the shot, he would won the point that would have allowed Mars Hill to hold the trophy until the next tournament at Brevard College, November 21.
Mars Hill did win the tournament. UNCA retained the overall lead with 17 points, but the Lions are still on the prowl with 16. In third place is Brevard College with 7. Other colleges involved in the league are Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Haywood Community College, Montreat College, Western Carolina University, and Warren Wilson College.
Mars Hill's Jesse Webb threw the second best individual round, behind the UNCA leader, but the Lions still racked up the best team score.
Each team is awarded one point for each player who completes a round in the tournament plus an extra point for each woman player up to five. Thus Mars Hill by fielding seven men and three women earned 13 points plus two points for Jesse Webb's second place finish. The leading teams going into the third tournament are: UNCA, 17 points; Mars Hill, 16; Montreat, 7; Brevard, 6; WCU 6.
The next tournament will be on Sunday, November 21, at Brevard College. In this event the teams will rank their players. The first from each will play each other for points. The second ranked will play in a separate match up. And so on through the whole order of the smallest team. In all events, women who complete 18 holes win an extra point, up to five, for their team. A maximum of 10 points can be received for a team.
There will be three more tournaments in the spring; the first tournament will be on Sunday, February 27. at UNCA's home course - Richmond Hill. The second tournament will be Sunday, March 27; this will be Mars Hill College's first home tournament for the spring season. The last tournament for the season will be on Sunday, April 24, at Black Mountain Recreation Park. This is the home course for Warren Wilson and Montreat College.
The trophy travels with the leading team. A brochure for the Western North Carolina Disc Golf Club describes it as:
"…A mini-basket that will have tags dangling from the chains. For each tournament that a team wins, they will have their name engraved on a tag and hung on the chains"