Stewart County High School made two kinds of history on Tuesday.
SCHS teams had never won a TSSAA state championship in any sport, nor had any Rebel won an individual state title. Both of those facts are now outdated after the Class A golf tournament, which took place in Sevierville on Monday and Tuesday.
The Stewart County boys won the state championship with a score of 37-over-par 313, beating runner-up Signal Mountain by 13 strokes. On the girls’ side, junior Shelby Smith defeated Westview’s Maddie Gray in a playoff to claim the individual title while leading Stewart County to a second-place team finish.
Smith was in fifth place, five strokes behind Gray, after shooting a 77 during the first round at the Sevierville Golf Club’s Highlands Course. The Region 5-A champion rallied Tuesday with a round of 71, pulling into a tie with Gray with a two-day score of 8-over-par 148 and forcing a playoff to decide the title. Smith then beat Gray on the first hole of the playoff.
Stewart County finished with a score of 32-over-par 312, 10 strokes behind champion Cascade. Sophomore Natalee Wyatt took eighth place (76-88-164), and senior Jaclyn Rose tied for 20th (95-88-183). Only the top two scores count towards the team total.
The Rebels tied their best finish at state, which was a runner-up finish in 1993. Nina Samelu previously had SCHS’s best individual finish by taking second place in 1992. SCHS has won six straight district championships, four region titles in five seasons and placed fifth at last season’s state tournament, which was their fifth appearance of all time.
Wyatt was 16th and Smith was 19th at state last season.
The Stewart County boys won their fifth straight district and region championships this season and were making their fifth consecutive appearance at the state tournament. The Rebels were third in 2020 and 2022, fourth in 2021 and second in 2023, finishing five strokes behind Kingston.
MORE: Top performers in Clarksville area TSSAA high school sports for Sept. 30-Oct. 6
Senior Ayden Smith became the highest-placing boy in Stewart County history by shooting a 2-over-par 146 (73-73) at the Sevierville Golf Club River Course, tying him for second with Waverly’s Maddox Butler. Smith and Butler were one stroke behind champion Greyson Koch of White House Heritage.
Senior Landon Wallace tied for eighth (76-76-152), junior Hayden Howell tied for 11th (76-78-154), senior Morgan Atkins tied for 22nd (80-81-161) and sophomore Glenn Tanner placed 45th (92-86-178). Tanner’s score did not count towards the Rebels’ team total.
Nick Wallace is the head coach of the Rebels’ boys and girls teams, with Austin Byrd serving as assistant coach.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: TSSAA golf: Stewart County boys, Shelby Smith win championships
