A round of golf can be a roller-coaster ride and Evan Walters V was on one last week at the District 11 Golf Championships.

He finished the ride with a smile on his face as he shot 2-over par 74 last Tuesday at Steel Club to finish third overall in Class 3A and earn a place in this week’s state championship tournament.

“I had a lot of up-and-down moments today,” Walters V said after his round. “I feel really good, made a lot of birdies. I also made a lot of mistakes. I probably could have shot 71 or 72, but overall I’m happy with how I played.”

The Emmaus sophomore made three birdies, five bogeys and 10 pars in his round. He was 1-over par before birdies on the 6th and 9th holes put him at 1-under for the front nine and in a share of the lead.

He entered the tournament just thinking about finishing in the top six to advance to the state championships, but quickly readjusted his goals.

“The goal, since I’m a sophomore, was just to qualify,” he said. “I was trying to shoot 76 or 77 just to get in, but I was playing better than I expected today.”

He shot 79 in the district qualifier at Northampton Country Club a week earlier and then carded an 82 in a practice round at Steel Club before things came together last Tuesday.

Walters V made one birdie on the back nine on the 14th hole, sandwiched between bogeys on 12, 13, 15 and 16.

He held on to par 17 and 18 and finish tied for third and one shot out of a tie for second place.

“He was in the hunt toward the end,” said Emmaus head coach Patrick Birns. “He’s one of the most calm and collected kids I’ve ever been around. He’s never up and never down. You can watch him from a distance and not know whether he’s having a good round or a bad round. That’s why he’s such a great golfer.”

Birns also said he expects Walters V to keep getting better. He improved his scoring average by eight strokes in a year, going from 82 as a freshman to 74 this fall.

He’ll compete in the PIAA Class 3A Championships this week, a 36-hole event played Monday and Tuesday at the White Course at Penn State University.

Emmaus had two medalists at last week’s district tournament, as the top five players were awarded medals.

Junior Alexis Teichman shot 92 to take fifth place in the girls Class 3A tournament, where only the top three finishers advance to states.

“Alexis Teichman has only been playing for 12 months and she finished in fifth place and got a medal,” said Birns. “That’s great.

“We had seven kids here. That’s the most I’ve had. I’m pretty impressed with that.”

Emmaus had three players in the girls field and four in the boys field.

Freshman Ella Bloszinsky shot 98 for seventh place in the girls tournament, while senior Maya Shutz finished ninth with a 108.

Junior Kyan DeLong finished 21st in the boys tournament with a 12-over par 84. Seniors Karson Krasley and Zachary Heller shot 92 to finish in a tie for 31st place.

Birns was happy with the way his players competed at the end of the season to make it to the district championships.

“These kids who play competitive golf have been doing it since March,” he said. “With us it’s just short season, but for them it’s so taxing on them because they’re playing summer tour, they’re playing spring tour. It’s a long, long season. To keep focused this long is pretty impressive.”

Northampton’s Gavin Pachinka won the boys Class 3A title last week, playing the last five holes at 4-under par to shoot 2-under 70. Nazareth’s Zachary Miller was second at 1-over par.

Nazareth’s Allie Tarreto won the girls title with an 82, beating teammate Camryn Hoff by two strokes. Collin Schreiber (Moravian Academy) won the boys Class 2 gold medal with a 74, eight shots better than Pen Argyl’s Joey DosSantos. And Mara Dubacher (Moravian Academy) made it a Lions sweep in Class 2A with the girls title, shooting 79 to beat teammate Emma Xu by one stroke.

Southern Lehigh won the Class 3A team title by one stroke over Northampton, 313-314. Moravian Academy shot 327 to cruise to the 2A team title.