Prairie Boys Golf

Hawks tie for 5th at CRANDIC

On a day in which scores were higher than expected, Kennedy was carried by medalist Cody Bell to its fifth straight championship of the CRANDIC boys golf tournament Tuesday at Hunters Ridge Golf Course.

It was an ideal day for golf, or most anything else: Sunny and dry, moderately cool and near windless.

The third-ranked Cougars, state runner-up last year, won with a score of 321, two strokes ahead of a resurgent Xavier group.

Jefferson recorded a solid team effort to finish a surprising third at 329, one shot better than host Linn-Mar in the eight-team field.

The tournament favorite, Bell recorded back-to-back scores of 38 en route to a 4-over 76 to claim individual honors. Xavier senior JP King came in second with a 78, and senior teammate Jason Beer was a stroke back at 79 to tie for third with Jefferson senior Eric Lehmkuhl. Beer led after nine holes with a 37, despite taking a double-bogey 7 on the second hole.

Rounding out the top individual finishes and tied for fifth place with scores of 81 were seniors Tyler Kalina of Kennedy, Tyler McCann and Kyle Hackett of Linn-Mar and juniors Ben Otis of Jefferson and Rob Thiness of Xavier.

Both Bell and his coach Mark Wilden said the immaculately-groomed  Hunters Ridge course seemed to play longer than usual despite the near-perfect conditions.

“If you would have told me this morning that a score of 321 would win this tournament, I would have said you were crazy,” Wilden said.  “Frankly, I’m shocked that we won. But I’m very pleased that we won.”

Wilden said the fairways were a little more damp than they had been when his team recorded a score of 319 in the Linn-Mar Invitational earlier in the year.

“The course was softer today, so you didn’t get a lot roll,” Wilden said. “That changes everything.”

Beer recovered from a double bogey on the first hole of the day when he hit a 4-iron out of bounds.

“I was able to put that out of my mind and get back par golf,” he said. “The course was playing longer today, but I used length off the tees to my advantage.”

Beer nailed 14 of 18 greens and, except for the rocky start, remained steady all day.

Jefferson Coach Steve Koepke was thrilled that his J-Hawks came in third.

“It was a bit of a surprise, since we haven’t competed in two weeks,” he said.  “We took Friday off so the guys could show up in force at the Jeff sophomore football game, then had a three-day break over the holiday.

“But I told them at the team breakfast to stay positive. Finishing in third place in this field, I think, shows the power of positive thinking.”

CRANDIC TOURNAMENT
At Hunters Ridge
(Par-72)

Teams - 1. Kennedy 321, 2. Xavier 323, 3. Jefferson 329, 4. Linn-Mar 330, 5. Iowa City High 340, 6. Iowa City West 346, 7. Prairie 346, 8. Washington 355

Top 10 finishers
Cody Bell, CRK              38-38--76
JP King, CRX                 38-40--78
Jason Beer, CRX            37-42--79
Eric Lehmkuhl, CRJ      39-40--79
Ben Otis, CRJ                 38-43--81
Tyler Kalina, CRK          35-46--81
Rob Thinnes, CRX          40-41--81
Tyler McCann, LM          38-43--81
Kyle Hackett, LM           41-40--81
Mitch Willems, CRJ        39-43--82
Brigham Stewart, CRK  37-45--82  
Harrison Moore, CRK    38-44--82
Colyn Snyder, CRP        42-40--82

KENNEDY (321): Cody Bell 76, Tyler Kalina 81, Brigham Stewart 82, Harrison Moore 82, Mitchell Martin 83, Jake Wilding 92

XAVIER (323): JP King 78, Jason Beer 79, Rob Thinnes 81, Matt Junge 85, Ben Sagers 89, Ben McDermott 96

JEFFERSON (329): Eric Lehmkuhl 79, Ben Otis 81, Mitch Willems 82, Zach Denny 87, Gavin Williams 93, Colten Jourdan 102

LINN-MAR (330): Tyler McCann 81, Kyle Hackett 81, Trevor Berry 83, Clay Vieth 85, Mark Drake 85, Drew McGovern 85

IOWA CITY HIGH (340): Grant Simpson 84, Trent Bedford 84, Ryan Duncan 86, Patrick Jordan 86, Nate Goddard 87, Coale Cooper 92

IOWA CITY WEST (346): Drew Haas 86, Anthony Lehnertz 86, Dominic Muzzin 87, Tyler Whitehead 87, Noah Federici 88, Joe Scott 92

PRAIRIE (346): Colyn Snyder 82, Mitch Wagner 83, att Edl 88, Drew Digman 93, Jared Smith 94, Brooks Kehoe 103

WASHINGTON (355): Matt Starnd 87, Austin Bergstrom 88, Dominic Rodriguez 90, Jon Landis 90, John Kopec 91, Zach Gothard 97

Prairie golfers take 2nd at Airport National

Matt Edl and Drew Digman shot 1-over-par 33s Thursday to help Cedar Rapids Prairie finish second in a Mississippi Valley Conference quadrangular meet at Airport National.

Jason Beer shot a 33 for the Xavier Saints as the high school golfers assaulted the course.

Jared Deines of Cedar Falls and Dominic Muzzin of Iowa City West shared medalist honors at 1-under 31.

Cedar Falls won the meet with 130 shots, followed by Prairie (135), Iowa City West (139) and Xavier (140).

CEDAR FALLS (130): Jared Deines 31, Andy Kloos 32, Wil Hunemiller 33, Jacob Bermel 34, Alec Braun 34, Jon Skarlis 35.

PRAIRIE (135): Matt Edl 33, Drew Digman 33, Colyn Snyder 34, Mitch Wagner 35, Brooks Kehoe 37, Knutson 37, Jared Smith 40.

IOWA CITY WEST (139): Dominic Muzzin 31, Drew Haas 36, Scott 36, Noah Federici 36, Anthony Lehnertz 37, Tyler Whitehead 39, Michael Boysen 40.

XAVIER (140): Jason Beer 33, Ben McDermott 35, Ben Sagers 36, Matt Junge 36, Rob Thinnes 36, Jackson Esker 36, J.P. King 37.

Lehmkuhl, Edl share medalist honors in Waterloo

WATERLOO - Eric Lehmkuhl of Jefferson and Matt Edl of Prairie shared medalist honors at a Mississippi Valley Conference quadrangular golf meet Thursday with nine-hole rounds of 1-over-par 36 at the Irv Warren course in Waterloo.

Lehmkuhl helped the J-Hawks win the team title with a four-man total of 149, which was nine strokes over par. Zach Denny shot a 2-over 37 for the J-Hawks, while Ben Otis and Mitch Willems finished at 3-over 38.

Colyn Snyder shot a 2-over 37 for Prairie.

Teams - 1. Jefferson 149, 2. Waterloo West 153, 3. Prairie 155, 4. Hempstead 156.

Medalist - Eric Lehmkuhl (J), Matt Edl (P) 36

JEFFERSON (149) - Eric Lehmkuhl 36, Zach Denny 37, Ben Otis 38, Mitch Willems 38, Colten Jourdan 40, Gavin Williams 42.

WATERLOO WEST (153) - Jace Holton 37, Austin Jackson 38, Sam Richter 39, Tom Richter 39, Collin Trenkamp 39, Will Shirey 43.

PRAIRIE (155) - Matt Edl 36, Colyn Snyder 37, Mitch Wagner 41, Jared Smith 41.

HEMPSTEAD (156) - Carson Hillery 37, Josh Viertel 38, Shawn Breitbach 39, Brad Mieke 42, Dalton Streff 42.

Hawks 9th at Linn-Mar Invitational

Matt Edl shot a 77 to lead the Prairie boys golfers Monday at the Linn-Mar Invitational at Hunters Ridge.

Micth Wagner shot 82, Colyn Snyder 83 and Jared Smith 89.

Prairie shot a 331 that was good for ninth place in the 13-team event.

Cedar Falls won the event with a 306 that was 18 strokes over par. Linn-Mar's Tyler McCann was medalist with a par 72.

LINN-MAR INVITATIONAL
At Hunters Ridge
Team Standings

1. Cedar Falls 306, 2. Muscatine 312, 3. Linn-Mar 312, 4. Kennedy 319, 5. Iowa City High 319, 6. Jefferson 321, 7. Xavier 321, 8. Iowa City West 323, 9. Prairie 331, 10. Washington 332, 11. Dubuque Wahlert 354, 12. Davenport Central 359, 13. Davenport West 408.

(Note: Ties broken by fifth man's score)

Top 10 Individuals
Par-72

1. Tyler McCann, Linn-Mar, 72; 2. Jacob Bermel, Cedar Falls, 74; 3. (tie) Michael Canfield, Muscatine, 75; Cody Bell, Kennedy, 75; Will Hunemuller, Cedar Falls, 75; Andy Kloos, Cedar Falls 75; Dominic Rodriguez, Washington, 75; 8. Clay Vieth, Linn-Mar, 76; 9. Grant Simpson, Iowa City High, 77; Nate Goddard, Iowa City High, 77; Jason Beer, Xavier, 77; Dominic Muzzin, Iowa City West, 77.

CEDAR FALLS (306): Jacob Bermel 74, Wil Hunemuller 75, Andy Kloos 75, Jared Deines 82

MUSCATINE (312): Michael Canfield 75, Josh Anderson 78, Ryan Solt 78, Adam Hutton 81, Drake Decker 81

LINN-MAR (312): Tyler McCann 72, Clay Vieth 76, Trevor Berry 79, Drew McGovern 85, Trevor McCann 88, Thomas Billmeyer 89

KENNEDY (319): Cody Bell 75, Brigham Stewart 79, Harrison Moore 82, Jake Wilding 83, Mitchell Martin 83, Conner Koberg 90

IOWA CITY HIGH (319): Grant Simpson 77, Nate Goddard 77, Ryan Duncan 80, Coale Cooper 85, Patrick Jordan 87

JEFFERSON (321): Zach Denny 79, Eric Lehmkuhl 80, Ben Otis 81, Mitch Willems 81, Gavin Williams 87, Michael Loboda 92

XAVIER (321): Jason Beer 77, Ben Sagers 79, Matt Junge 79, Rob Thinnes 86, JP King 88, Mitch Keller 88

IOWA CITY WEST (323): Dominic Muzzin 77, Drew Haas 81, Michael Boysen 81, Anthony Lehnertz 84

PRAIRIE (331): Matt Edl 77, Mitch Wagner 82, Colyn Snyder 83, Jared Smith 89, Brooks Kehoe 96, Drew Digman 100

WASHINGTON (332): Dominic Rodriguez 75, Zach Gothard 82, Clayton Hoyt 86, Austin Bergstrom 89, Matt Strand 93, John Kopec 99

WAHLERT (354): Greg Lange 84, Christian Rapp 85, Jeff Hancock 87, Charlie Smith 98

DAVENPORT CENTRAL (359): Pete Kaufmann 81, Sean Carter 89, Jordan Miller 90, Mitch McKenna 99, Bryce Karney 99

DAVENPORT WEST (408): Zach Blizzard 99, Quinton Baenziger 100, Logan Skutte 102, Reece Paper 107