Brayden Anderson, Cheney boys leaves no doubt, roll to State 3A championship | State golf

May 21-Cheney golf coach Justin Fayant's message to his team was simple prior to Wednesday's final round of the State 3A boys tournament.

"He said, 'Go play Cheney golf,' " junior Justin Krasselt said. "He said, 'When you play your golf, you're hard to beat.' "

The rest of the field, including Seattle Prep, which shared the first-round lead with the Blackhawks, found that out in the closing round at Indian Canyon.

Cheney quickly moved in front and never let up, claiming the program's first state title since 1989 by 15 shots over Seattle Prep.

"The first feeling is, I can't believe this happened," Fayant said. "But also I was just talking to my assistant coach and we said the whole year we were going to get it done. Feeling it, it's incredible."

To top it off, junior Brayden Anderson brought home the individual championship after a wild finish on the 18th hole.

Elsewhere, Freeman, led by Lily Knight's 1-under 69 at Liberty Lake, captured its second consecutive 1B/2B championship and West Valley's Melia Cerenzia pulled away to win the 2A girls title for the second time in three years.

3A boys, girls: Cheney players and coaches sported bright red shorts for the final round.

"Brayden's dad right before the Kalispel Invite was like, 'We need to get some red shorts,' and everybody was like, 'Yeah, good idea,' " Krasselt said. "I convinced the guys to wear them today. They wanted to wear black shorts, but I said we should wear red. Kind of a power play, one might say. Thought it might be fun."

"Red stands for under par," said a smiling Anderson, who fired a 4-under 67 to finish at 6-under 136.

Anderson, one shot behind Gig Harbor's Theo Snyder, joined his teammates on the hill behind the 18th green to watch Snyder and the final group's last hole. Snyder was nearly flawless on the back side with four birdies to reach 7 under overall, but an errant drive forced him to punch out.

Snyder's third shot hit the edge of the cart path and his ball ricocheted dead left into a bush. His next shot clipped a tree and his ball came to rest in high grass about 25 yards from the green. Snyder chipped to 13 feet, but his bogey putt to force a playoff came up inches short.

"I didn't know I'd won for a while, but it worked out for me," Anderson said. "I was honestly shocked. It still hasn't sunk in yet."

Junior Ryan Howe shot his second straight under-par round with a 70 for a two-day total of 139 and a tie for fifth that included North Central's Teigen Brill (69). Krasselt eagled the par-5 12th and carded a 69 to share eighth.

Anderson, Howe, Krasselt and junior Blake Kernen, who birdied 18 to shoot 80, grew up together and played Cheney Parks and Rec golf at age 5 or 6.

"We've talked about (winning state) all year, it's been our main focus," Anderson said. "We're happy. It's way better than I thought it would be. Last year we had it and we just let it slip (to a third-place finish). This year we really put the nail in the coffin."

Said Krasselt: "This is just a great team one through five (with senior Noah Ragaza-Bourassa)."

Bellevue cruised to the girls' title behind Tatum Otto and Nicole Tang, who both shot 7-under 137 at Deer Park.

2A girls, boys: Cerenzia was rock solid for the second straight day, shooting a 72 to go with Tuesday's 73 at Riverside Golf Club in Chehalis for a six-stroke win over Fife's Sofia Nguyen.

Cerenzia, who will play at Washington State this fall, made 27 pars, four birdies and five bogeys over 36 holes. She finished her prep career with two state titles, one second place and one fourth.

"She was on a mission to repeat as a champion," West Valley coach Ty Brown said. "She's worked hard on her conditioning as well as both the mental and physical aspects of her game. It's been quite a journey for her."

West Valley collected hardware with a third-place finish, behind champion Washougal and Burlington-Edison.

4A boys, girls: Lewis and Clark took home a second-place trophy for the second consecutive season. The Tigers (620 two-day total) held off Eastlake and defending champion Newport in a tight battle for second at Eagles Pride in DuPont.

LC's Jack Brigham (77-152) tied for 13th and Bryce Johnson (74-153) shared 15th. Mead senior Ben Barrett led by three when he made the turn before finishing in a tie for third, four strokes behind Skyline's Ethan Schwan (141).

Skyline (586) cruised to the team title.

Gonzaga Prep's Bayler Fix (79-159) finished 26th in the girls' tournament. Issaquah's Ira Upadhyay won the individual title with a 4-under 140 at Hawks Prairie in Lacey and Kamiak captured the team crown.

1B/2B girls, 1B boys, 2B boys: The Freeman girls had the best of both worlds - great depth and Knight's 69 accounting for Wednesday's lowest score at Liberty Lake.

Capri Lapointe finished ninth, Grace Duncan and Kassie Broers tied for 16th, Anna McNally shared 19th and Emerson Conklin was 25th as Freeman totaled 97.5 points, 16.5 in front of Forest Ridge.

"Lily played amazing," Freeman coach John Bruno said. "Our amazing seniors Lily, Emerson, Kassie and Anna were able to win back-to-back titles. Our sophomore duo of Capri and Grace helped put us on top."

Saint George's Matthew Longstreth (78-155) finished second behind Orcas Island's Joe Anderson in the 2B boys.

DeSales won 1B team and individual titles with Jake Warwick shooting a two-day total of 149.

1A girls, boys: Medical Lake's Madison Griffis finished strong with a 2-over 74 at MeadowWood, helping the Cardinals to second place behind Overlake.

The Lakeside boys finished seventh, led by Ben Orth (76-158, tied for 18th).

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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 11:35 PM.