DURHAM — Before the season, one of the objectives of the Person High School golf team was to earn a top-four finish in the Piedmont Athletic Conference and make Division 4A regional team competition.

The Rockets came up a little short of that goal Monday afternoon in the season’s seventh nine-hole conference match at the Croasdaile Golf Course. Person placed fifth, shooting 166 as a team to finish 18 strokes behind match winner East Chapel Hill, which had a score of 148 on the day.

Chapel Hill took second with a 155, and host-team Riverside totaled a 158 for third place. Northern Durham ended up in fourth at 159.

With just one conference contest remaining after Monday’s action, Person lost any opportunity to finish fourth or better this year as a team, but three Rockets are headed for individual regional play.

Joe Weinberger, who carded a 40 on Monday, and James Weinberger and Brice Mitchell, who shot 42s, qualified for the regionals.

Other Rockets who played on Monday were Brett Perkins (42), and Matt Hepler and Trevor Kendrick, who both played but did not place.

Rounding out the team finishes at Monday’s conference match were Jordan (173), Hillside (208), and Southern Durham (225).

In the season’s final PAC-6 match Thursday at Hillandale Golf Course, the Rockets placed fifth once again, shooting a team score of 161.

Northern Durham won the match with a 149, and, in turn, captured the regular season conference title by one-half point over East Chapel Hill, which shot a 150 and finished one stroke behind the Knights on Thursday.

Riverside (152) and Chapel Hill (155) were the third and fourth-place finishers on Thursday. Jordan, Hillside (Thursday’s host team), and Southern Durham ended up in their accustomed sixth, seventh and eighth spots.

The Rockets were led by Joe Weinberger’s 36 (his best score of the season), Perkins’ 40, Hepler’s 41, and Mitchell’s 44.

Rocket coach Mark Lunsford said his team played consistently by scoring in the 160-165 range all season, and was pleased to see the progress of the younger players.

“It was encouraging to see that we had one freshman [Hepler] and two sophomores [Perkins and James Weinberger] scoring in the top four the last few matches,” he said.

Division 4A regional play commences on Monday, May 5, at the Anderson Creek Golf Course in Spring Lake.

Lunsford added that his three regional qualifiers should get well prepared for the regionals after competing in the Optimist International Tournament in Bouies Creek this weekend.