varsity.roanoke.com

SCRUGGS -- Battlefield High School assistant golf coach Tom Metts knows Andrew Lister's aversion to note pads, cameras and microphones.

So Metts sought a stand-in among the Battlefield junior's teammates.

"Who wants to be Andrew Lister?" Metts asked.

How about the other 71 players in the VHSL Group AAA golf tournament?

Lister won the individual state championship Tuesday at The Waterfront Country Club, overcoming a three-shot deficit after the first round to edge Chris Valianos of Frank Cox by one stroke with a two-day total of 148.

Lister became just the second athlete to win an individual state title in any sport at Battlefield, a six-year-old school in Haymarket.

Lister trailed leader Ji Soo Park of Chantilly by three strokes and was a shot behind four other contenders after Monday's first round. He fired a 2-over-par 73 including a four-foot birdie putt on No. 18 that earned him the title.

"I didn't know if I was going to win," Lister said. "I thought I'd be fourth or fifth or something. Then I saw some high scores come in."

Lister had to sweat out nearly a two-hour wait until all the players finished. Valianos was among the final group, missing a difficult downhill 20-footer with a chance to tie.

"I was pretty nervous," Lister said. "I didn't know if I would have a playoff or not."

The difficult Waterfront layout swallowed up the chances of Park, who ballooned to a 79 after an opening-round 72 and finished third after defeating Westfield's Wes Liu in a two-hole playoff.

Park's scorecard included a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 3, which was his 15th hole since he teed off on No. 7.

Lister had no such trouble, although he did bogey three holes on the back nine. The low-key Battlefield golfer -- a two-time Northwest Region champion -- maintained his composure.

"He's always had that demeanor of grinding it out," Battlefield coach John Tillman said. "That's unlike what your typical high school golfer would be like. On this golf course, you have to be that way."

Westfield captured the elusive Group AAA team championship after finishing third each of the past two years and in second place in 2003 and 2005.

"It's a great feeling," Westfield coach Tim Vigotsky said.

"We had seven kids play and six of them were seniors.

"This is the end of their high school golfing career. They seemed to have a sense of purpose knowing that this was their last chance."

Westfield held a two-stroke lead over Madison after shooting a 312 on Monday. The Bulldogs improved that by seven shots as Liu equaled the day's best round with a 1-over-par 72.

Including the VHSL postseason, Westfield competed in seven tournaments this fall and won them all. The Bulldogs put four players in the top 15 this week.

"That's kind of the way it's been all year," Vigotsky said. "We haven't had that one superstar that's carried us.

"With seven seniors, they know what they have to do to win. They really take care of business."

Franklin County's Josh Neal -- the lone Timesland player in the field -- finished his final prep tournament with an 89 and a two-day score of 173.

Neal never got his game in gear either day.

"I had trouble with the length," Neal said. "The course played really long, and I'm not one that hits it that far. I really wasn't hitting the ball all that solid this week. If you're not doing that, you can't score."