That was Cody Sims’ goal for a finish at Monday’s Class 4A state golf tournament in Wellington.

The senior was on pace after the front nine, as he shot a competitive 36. He was sitting at third at that point, heading into the back nine, when the weather became treacherous.

Lightning delayed the tournament for about an hour.

When play resumed, the wind wreaked havoc on the course. Sims shot a 40 on the back nine for a 76, good for a ninth-place tie with two other golfers.

After a three-person playoff that lasted one hole, Sims finished the day in 11th.

“It went pretty good,” Sims said. “It could have gone better. I had a lot of birdie putts not fall.

“It wasn’t too shabby, but it could have been way better.”

Sims had the best drive of the three golfers, but, after chipping well throughout the tournament, Sims struggled on the playoff hole.

Sims didn’t reach his goal of a top 5 finish, but 11th out of 104 golfers isn’t bad. Fort Scott’s Joe Ida won the meet with a low score of 70. And, Sims had the same score as Topeka Hayden’s Riley Piles, who won the Jeff West regional a week before. Sims finished fifth at that regional.

The greens were “unbelievably fast” Monday and many of the greens were hilly at Wellington Municipal Golf Course, Sims said.

Despite finishing lower than his goal, Sims still had a solid outing — especially for his first trip to the state meet after just missing the top tournament throughout his high school career.

“All in all, I played pretty well,” Sims said.

THS assistant coach Jon Jacques agreed.

“I thought Cody played the smartest round of golf he had all year long,” Jacques said. “He played very determined.

“Both coach (Steve) Harrell and I knew he was more than capable with his performance yesterday. He proved he deserved to be there and that he was one of the top golfers in the state.”

Sims has been the top golfer at Tonganoxie High so far. The program started in 2002 and has made strides since that first season.

Next year, however, the Chieftains will be without Sims, who will enroll at Johnson County Community College in the fall.

Sims would like to play in a couple tournaments this summer, but he isn’t planning to compete at college — at least not right now.

“Who knows, I might decide to walk on some where if I decide to,” Sims said. “I don’t know.”

After he finishes at JCCC, Sims plans to attend Kansas State and major in horticulture.

Although Sims might not play golf for a college squad, he doesn’t envision straying from golf. With his horticulture major, Sims would like to become a head greens keeper.

Ideally, that would be at a “really nice course,” some day, Sims said.