The Washington Demons hosted the Southeast Conference golf meet last night, and had some good showings in tough windy conditions.

Washington has been a little inconsistent as of late, and the team saw a little of that last night, but from their top scorers, they saw determination. Ryan Waite shot a 76 through the wind to tie for the meet medalist spot, while Derek Anding shot an 80 to tie for fifth place. Both Anding and Waite had to go to a playoff with two other golfers to decide who got what spot.

For Waite, his group tied on the first hole, and had to go to hole number two, a par three over a pond to a slanted green. Waite talked after the meet about the playoff and how he played it.

“the first playoff hole I thought I was going to end up great, I was the only one on in regulation, I just kind of fell apart under a couple of putts that were pressuring and that’s just how it is,” Waite said. “Second hole, Kiley ended up putting his ball on in one and really put pressure on us [Waite and Nick Higgins], Nick made a great shot with his chip and made the putt, and I just missed mine, that’s all there is to it.”

Waite found himself outside looking in after two, and finished in an All-conference third spot. The other two golfers would have to go all the way to hole five before the winner was decided, and it was Kiley Miller of Mt. Pleasant over Fairfield’s Nick Higgans.

For Anding, he and his group of two other golfers did much of the same, going to hole four to decide it, but in order to do so Anding had to survive a scary hole three. Hitting his first shot into the trees on the left, Anding hit his second shot into the trees again, and would get to the green later putting for bogey, and convert for double. His opponent Blake Miller was up and had about a 10-foot putt for par, and missed it long, he then missed the three-footer coming back down and converted for double to force the next hole that Anding won, and placed him all-conference at fifth place.

Head coach Mark Berhow was very pleased with how his top two golfers played in the windy conditions.

“I was really encouraged with how both Derek and Ryan played. Ryan came back from not shooting a great first round, and to shoot what he did, and just playing consistently. He said he was making a lot of long putts, and that’s good,” Berhow said. “Derek came back too, he struggled in the first round, but played much better in the second round. So those two guys understand what it takes to play 18 holes.”

Other scores for Washington were Blake Weidman with a 91, Mason Rich and Grant Marek both with 92, and Tanner Coleman with a 102.

Fairfield won conference with a score of 316, Mt. Pleasant was second with a 328, Washington third with a 339, Keokuk was fourth with a 349, and Ft. Madison was fifth with a 380.

There is no rest for Washington from big meets, as they head to Marion on Friday for sectionals.