Seaside’s Carson Kawasoe nearly pulled off a big rally on Day 2 of the state golf tournament at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks, where the senior Gull golfer eventually finished third out of 58 golfers on the 4A individual leaderboard.

Kawasoe shot a five-over par 77 in Monday’s first round, and was in sixth place individually.

“As always at this level, it came down to putts inside 8 feet,” said Kawasoe’s coach at Seaside, Jim Poetsch, after Monday’s round. “If he had made them all, he’d be sitting on a two-stroke lead right now. But he’s still in the hunt so hopefully he has a great day (Tuesday) and all those putts fall.”

Through nine holes of Tuesday’s second round, Kawasoe was two-under par. He had birdies on four of the first five holes and moved into second place, one stroke behind Woodburn’s Ty Beyer.

Two holes later, there was a four-way tie for first between Kawasoe, Tillamook’s Elliot Lee, Beyer and Aaron Brown of Banks.

After chipping in for birdie on the 10th hole — Kawasoe’s second chip-in for birdie of the day — he sat alone atop the leaderboard.

But Kawasoe double-bogeyed the 12th as Lee (who began the second round on the back nine) birdied the third hole to give Lee a lead that he would never relinquish.

Kawasoe finished with a 74, the best score of the day, one stroke ahead of three other golfers.

Lee carded a 75 on Tuesday, good enough for a two-round total 148 and medalist honors.

Beyer had scores of 73 and 77 for a 150 total for second, followed by Kawasoe with a 151 (77-74). Freshman Isaiah Jones of Baker/Powder Valley and Brown each posted a 152 to tie for fourth.

In his only two full spring seasons at Seaside, Kawasoe was a freshman in 2019 and led the Gulls to a second-place finish. As a senior, he qualified for state as an individual and finished third.

In a swan song for the Cowapa League, Banks won the 2022 state title by three strokes, while Valley Catholic and Baker tied for second.

Lee will return next season for Tillamook, but Kawasoe graduates, while Banks and Valley Catholic drop to the 3A level.

“This was the closest state tournament, on both the individual and team sides, that I’ve seen,” Poetsch said. “Carson made a great run at the title. I couldn’t be more proud of him. With two holes left I thought he had a great chance to win it. But Elliot is also a great player and he did what he needed to do to win it. We will miss having Carson but I look forward to watching what he can do at Santa Clara (University) next year.”