After finishing a stroke behind Northwest Christian’s Jared Desoteaux on the first day of the 1B/2B state golf tournament, Highland Christian senior Craig Crawford tried to battle back to win his third state championship.

Instead, he fell back by another six strokes, taking second place in the tournament that ran May 27-28 at the Tri-Cities Country Club in Kennewick. Crawford wraps up his career with two runner-up trophies to go with his two state championships in 2006 and 2008.

While Desoteaux shot 68 strokes each day for a winning tally of 136, Crawford shot 69 and 74, finishing with 143 strokes, two ahead of Nathan Putnam of Life Christian Academy and Jacob Christensen of Asotin High School.

“He chipped in an eagle on the 16th,” said Highland Christian coach Terry Schweitzer of Crawford’s first day. “He had an average front nine, but shot very well on the back, 38 on the front and a 31 on the back, so he was two under on the back.”

Crawford has a scholarship to play golf at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

League rival Dylan Falk, a sophomore at Grace Academy, qualified for the second day of the tournament, shooting 86 strokes. He finished tied for 43rd place with a total of 177 strokes. Fellow Eagle Grant Weinberg just missed the cut for the second day.

On the girls side, Grace Academy’s Ariell Eneix moved up from eighth place after the first day to seventh place overall, with 90 strokes the first day and 89 the second. The girls tournament was dominated by Life Christian Academy, who placed four golfers in the top five spots, the fifth finishing eighth just behind Eneix.

Marysville-Pilchuck senior Sara Rott finished three strokes back from qualifying for the second day of the 4A girls state tournament. Her 87 strokes were tied for 47th place. Teammate Abby Beauchamp was another five strokes back in a four-way tie for 63rd place with 92 strokes.

Tomahawk senior Kyle Hanks finished two strokes out of the tournament’s second day, ending up in a five-way tie for 53rd place with 82 strokes on the par 72 Canyon Lakes Golf Course in Kennewick.