Germantown's Gossett recaptures boys championship; Phillips moves up a notch to become AAA girls titilist

CHAPEL HILL, Tenn. _ David Gossett has bookends and Amanda Phillips has acenterpiece.

Gossett, a senior from Germantown, and Phillips, a Clarksville Northeast junior, became individual Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Division I, Class AAA State Golf Tournament champions on Wednesday with impressive wins at Henry Horton State Park's Buford Ellington Golf Course.

It was deja vu all over again for Gossett, who repeated as champion, having first won the title in 1994 as a freshman at Memphis' Christian Brothers High School. Gossett posted his second consecutive 1-under par 71 on Wednesday.

"I felt pretty confident going into the final round because I'd been in this tournament and going after the championship before," said Gossett, who started his final round in a tie for first with Henry County's Adam Steedly.

The 142 by Gossett made him the only player in the tournament to finish the 36-hole event with a sub-par score. It was good enough for a five-stroke victory over Hardin County freshman Clint Cromwell, who shot a 71 on Wednesday to go with his opening-round 76.

Franklin senior Kyle Young (70_148) and Soddy Daisy junior Patrick Williams (73_148) tile for third with Adam Shanks of Science Hill (70_149) and East Ridge's Andrew Black (77_149) ended deadlocked in fifth place.

Winning the girls championship didn't come easy for Phillips, who finished as runner-up a year ago, losing by five strokes to two-time champion Paula Carter of Henry County. On Wednesday, Phillips carded a 78_157, the identical total she had in 1996. But a tournament -best 1-over par 74 by sophomore Courtney Wood of Brentwood, playing in the group behind Phillips, was good enough for a tie that forced a playoff.

The duo started on No. 1 with Phillips outdriving Wood, but going left into the rough. When Wood's approach shot from the middle of the fairway on the par 4 hole went right and short of the green, Phillips responded by hitting her approach to within seven feet of the pin. She followed that by rolling in a birdie putt for the sudden-death victory.

"This sure feels a lot better than last year," Phillips said. "When Courtney missed the green, I could see a big opening for me, and I was feeling pretty confident that I would make the putt. It's really exciting.''

Wood's teammate, junior Adrianne Gibby, finished in third place at 160 while Margaret Marsh of Warren County took fourth with a 164. Fifth went to Mary Elizabeth Brice (167). Wood and Gibby's combined 317 gave Brentwood the team title, the lowest winning score ever in the Class AAA tournament. Tullahoma took second with 346 while Germantown finished third at 353.

"We had a five-stroke lead after 18 holes and I thought that if we didn't do anything stupid, we had a really good chance to win it all," Bruin coach Nick Waggoner said.

"Obviously I'd like to have had the girls finish one-two instead of two-three, but their finish and team championship is a tribute to how hard all the girls on the team have worked."

Tracy Parsons, the third member of the Brentwood team posted a 192, but only the best two scores on a girls team count in the battle for team championships. Tullahoma, with a 346, took home the runner-up trophy while Germantown finished third at 353.

With Gossett's sub-par round, he sparked Germantown to its first team championship with a 306-297_603. Science Hill (308-299_607) finished second with Lawrence County (314-313_627) third.

"David makes a pretty good anchor," said Red Devil coach Bill Weeks, whose team entered the final 18 holes with a two-shot lead over Science Hill. "I told the boys this morning that the tournament was theirs to lose. They didn't. They went out and played pretty solid golf, and we're going home happy.

Wednesday's tournament completed a two-week string of such events. Christian Brothers High School's boys and the girls from The Baylor School took Division II team titles last week at Graymere Country Club in Columbia. Brandt Snedeker of Montgomery Bell Academy and Baylor's Elizabeth Hallman were individual champions.

Also last week, Marshall County boys, led by tournament medalist Joey Morefield, and Davidson Academy girls, paced by medalist Samantha Fox, were Division I, Class A-AA team champions.