Washington’s Derek Anding hits a shot during last Saturday’s Washington Invitational Golf Tournament. Photo by KCII’s Nate Gonner.

The road to the state tournament begins this morning for the Washington Demon boys’ golf squad. The Class 3A sectional tournaments begins today across the state of Iowa, and the Demons are in the tournament hosted by Notre Dame-West Burlington at the Flint Hills Golf Course.

The top two teams and the top four individuals qualify for the district tournament May 22 at the Amana Colonies Golf Course. Should Notre Dame-West Burlington finish among the top two teams, the third best team will also advance to the district tournament because the team is the host school.

Washington boys’ golf coach Mark Berhow said a team to watch out for in their sectional is the Mount Vernon Mustangs, ” (They) went to the state tournament last year as a Class 2A team and then moved up to 3A this year and they have some low averages.” Berhow said, “They are probably the favorite and I would put us in second place. If we can play up to our potential,  it is a safe position for us.”

Other teams competing against the Demons’ are Clear Creek Amana, Fort Madison, Keokuk, Mount Pleasant, and Solon.

Washington’s 18 hole average is second in their sectional in with 337.25 strokes, 28 strokes behind Mount Vernon. The Demons are fifth overall in their 16-team district, just over one stroke ahead of Southeast Conference rival Mount Pleasant.

The Demons played on the Flint Hills Golf Course last month, winning the 2015 Notre Dame-West Burlington golf tournament in 330 strokes. Junior Derek Anding and freshman Dalton Myers each carded an 81 in their victory on April 15, tying them for second place overall.

Today’s sectional tournament tees off at 9:30 a.m. at the Flint Hills Golf Course in Burlington. Listen to tomorrow’s KCII sports page for results and to find out who advances to next week’s district tournament.