WHEELING — The first half of the WVSSAC State Golf Tournament is in the books from the Jones Course at Oglebay Resort, with local teams racing in the middle of the pack heading into the final day of the tourney Wednesday.

In Class AAAA, Wheeling Park sits in fourth after the first day, with an overall score of 244, 11 shots back of first-place Washington. In Class AAA, John Marshall is in third place with an overall score of 251, nine shots back of first-place Shady Spring. In Class AA, Wheeling Central sits at fifth with an overall team total of 273. Doddridge County is in first place. Charleston Catholic is first in the Class A race at a 243.

Wheeling Park’s Will Koegler also was tied with Parkersburg South’s Cam Fallon for the medalist spot in Class AAAA, the two both shooting a 76 at the midway point of the state tournament.

“We had a little rough day today like everybody else,” Wheeling Park head coach Don Headley said. “And I’ve said it over and over and over again- the Jones Course is the winner, there’s no doubt about it. The wind blew, it was cold– the conditions were perfect this afternoon, but they were a little rough this morning. And, you know, Will’s gonna be tied for the lead or one out or one up, however it turned out.

“He persevered and he started the day with a double and ended with a double and he’s five over. So he really grounded out today and did a great job and did some hard work today to get it. Andrew [Pennybacker] had a rough day, he’ll get it back together tomorrow. It’s still gonna come down to the three and four guys shooting a good number.”

Pennybacker shot an 83 on the first day, Seth Weidner shot an 85 and Quinn Marsh shot an 88.

Jones Course remains an intimidating obstacle, but Headley aims to have his team prepared.

“Everybody’s pretty much in the same boat,” Headley said. “A couple other guys did well, and a couple other guys did bad. And, you know, around here at the Jones Course, all you gotta do is make pars. That’s the name of the game. But, yeah, we’re excited to be 11 shots down because you definitely can make that up. But tomorrow, everybody’s gotta play well, and all the other teams know they have to play well. And it’s just the Jones Course. Maybe tomorrow you get lucky and take advantage of it.”

Headley, after 32 years at Park including 18 as varsity head golf coach, is retiring after tomorrow.

John Marshall is in striking distance for the Class AAA crown, with only Hampshire and first-place Shady Spring ahead of them.

Monarchs head coach Eli Lambie was impressed by the performance of a young, up-and-coming team.

“The Jones Course is brutally tough,” Lambie began. “I appreciate the course because it requires the kids to use every club in their bag and they have all different stances. So there are always things that are tough. The kids played really well. We’re a really young team.

“Two of our guys are freshmen who are playing and then we have a sophomore. So out of our top three golfers, we have two freshmen and a sophomore. They’re young and they’re kind of learning on the job here. But overall, they hung pretty tough. The putting got us a little bit today, but they struck the ball well. They had kind of a rough start, but were able to turn it around halfway through the round. I think we’re feeling pretty good and feeling like we have some good momentum going into tomorrow.”

Freshman Drew Marling leads John Marshall with an 81. Senior Brandt Blake carded an 84, freshman Jayden Harvey an 86, and sophomore Brayden Kempkens a 94.

Lambie predicted better outings in the second day of the tournament- not just from his team, but from the entire field.

“I think there are definitely a lot of nerves,” Lambie said. “There’s a lot of fanfare going into the tournament and everything, and that anticipation and the pressure is tough on kids, but they do tend to settle and get used to playing under pressure and playing the course as they go along. I think we’ll see some good scores tomorrow.”

Lambie is in his second year as head coach at John Marshall and is taking his team to states for the first time.

Wheeling Central, who already have an OVAC championship in their possession this year, will have an uphill climb in Class AA. Ahead of the fifth-place Maroon Knights is Wyoming East, Petersburg, Midland Trail and Doddridge County.

“I thought they had the golf course set up really hard,” Wheeling Central head coach Jim Mortakis said. “You know, the tee boxes were way back. We were pretty much playing black tees. I thought that we didn’t play as well as we could, or as we have been playing in the past. And I probably believe that that’s partly the youth of the team.”

The youthful Maroon were led by freshman Isaac Tiu’s 90. Freshman Conner Ball shot a 91, sophomore Rowen Parker shot a 92, and senior Bode Burge shot a 99.

Mortakis, who last year was named the state’s golf coach of the year after his Maroon Knights finished as Class AA state runners-up, is staying positive about his team’s upcoming second day.

“You know, you need one guy to step up and if one guy plays well, then the rest of the team starts to play well,” Mortakis said. “So all we’re going to do is come out tomorrow and do our best. And if we play the way that we can play, we’ll have a chance. That’s all I can say.”

Weir’s Evan Kaczmarek, who qualified as an individual, is tied for 15th in Class AA with a 90 after the first day of the tournament out of 40 Class AA golfers. There are 160 golfers in total across the tourney.