Success at the Red Raider Invitational does not guarantee teams a state championship, but in recent years the winners of the first big tournament of the season often end up with a championship trophy.

In the past few years North Augusta, Christ Church and T.L. Hanna used wins at the Greenville event to be the first step towards a state title.

If form holds true, the defending 5A DII champions from Hanna could be on track to win a third straight championship.

The Yellow Jackets won the Red Raider Invitational shooting a round of 284, even par . on the Greenville Country Club’s Riverside course.

“First time out of the box it was good to play and winning means something to this team,” said Hanna coach Eric Bona. “It is always fun to watch these guys play,” he said.

Hanna features the last two South Carolina Golf Association Juniors of the Year, Bennett Scaletta and Erik Erlenkeuser. They will lead a team that already has two straight state titles and expects to be in position to win a third title in the spring.

“These guys are still hungry. You can tell because when we have a day off I go out to the course and see all of them on the putting green or the practice tee. This team still wants to get better, they are still hungry,” said the Hanna coach.

A second defending state champion was in the field at the Greenville tournament. After years of close calls, the Wren Hurricane broke through for a 3A championship last year.

This year Wren was moved up to 4A as part of realignment along with several other 3A teams. The realigned classification also includes one of the perennial powers AC Flora.

In the first 4A poll the Hurricane were rated well behind Flora, Blue Ridge, Bishop England and North Augusta.

“I think the poll may be overlooking the fact we have three of our five starters back,” said Wren coach Tyler Barnes. “We know it is going to be difficult to repeat as state champions, but we have some very good experienced players,” he said.

Wren’s Garrett Gillespie finished tied with Easley’s Jace Danbom as the runner-up in the Red Raider. Gillespie with Dylan Park and Davis Merritt the Hurricane has championship experience.

“I think the rankings usually don’t matter, but this year it gives us some motivation. We are looking forward to playing this year. I think we are going to have a good season and the chip on our shoulder because of the ranking will help,” said the Hurricane’s coach.

Individually it would be hard to imagine any high school golfer having a better end of the year than the way Will Ruth from Dorman finished the season.

Ruth won the individual title at the Southern Cross with an eagle on his final hole. He won the 5A individual championship by earning a spot in a playoff with an eagle on the final hole and went on to win in the playoff.

The future UNC Wilmington golfer picked up where he left off last year. He didn’t eagle the final hole, but he claimed the individual win at the Red Raider Invitational with five back nine birdies.

“I had a couple of shots get away and had a bogey and a double bogey,” he said. “I made a par from the rough on 13 and that got me going. I made five birdies and played pretty well,” he said.

Ruth’s Dorman team was the pre-season pick to be the 5A DI champion. His teammate Casey Kosney finished 2-shots off the lead giving the Cavs a pair of golfers with state championship ability.

Several other teams played to their ranking.

Greenwood was ranked second in the 5A DII poll and finished in third . The Eagles were led by Cameron Addis who earned a spot on the All-Tournament team.