Linn-Mar High School - Marion, Iowa

Hoefle leads early, but misses Open by 4 shots

Linn-Mar coach and teacher Bill Hoefle missed qualifying for the U.S. Open by four strokes Monday after leading the pack over the first 18 holes.

Hoefle's first round score of 66 tied him for the lead with amateur Jace Long of Dixon, Mo., at  the sectional qualifying sat the St. Charles Country Club in suburban Chicago. Both shot 74 in the second round, tying them with three others at 140.

Professional Bennett Blakeman of Burr Ridge, Ill., shot a 68-67 to take top honors in the meet. He and two amateurs who shot 136 qualified out of field of 27 for the U.S. Open, June 16-19, at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

“I played very well all day,” Hoefle said Monday night. “Really, I hit the ball the same in both rounds.

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Hoefle takes another shot at the U.S. Open

The last time Bill Hoefle came close to golf’s magic ring he slipped up at the worse possible moment.

Two years ago, he was 6-under par going into the last hole of the sectional qualifying tournament for the very prestigious U.S. Open.

But he double-bogeyed the hole, limped into sixth place and came home to Marion kicking himself but hardly screaming.

He’ll try again next Monday (June 6) at the St. Charles Country Club near Chicago, one of a dozen sites around the country where one or two of the top finishers earn the prize of competing in this year’s U.S. Open, June 16-19, at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

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Kyle Dunn ends career with 6th state title

DES MOINES -- Kyle Dunn was not excited about track when he entered Linn-Mar High School in 2007. It was just something to do, and the "fragile" freshman kept getting hurt in the long jump.

"I would say I was more excited about baseball and football than I was track my freshman year," he said Saturday.

And the hurdles? Forget about it.

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Lions, Warriors and Hawks took shots at title

DES MOINES -- The Linn-Mar, Washington and Prairie boys track teams all made a run for the Class 4A state title Saturday, but one by one they all fell short.

It wasn't for lack of effort.

The drama began early Saturday when Prairie moved to the top of the team standings at the state track meet when Kyle Stocker finished second in the 800 meter run.

In the very next race, Linn-Mar grabbed the lead in the tight standings when it placed second in the shuttle hurdle relay to score eight big points.

And on the next race after that, Washington tied Linn-Mar for the top when Will Griffin and Alex Carr finished 2-3 in the 100 meter dash to collect 14 points.

That tie was quickly broken when Kyle Dunn won the 110 high hurdles for Linn-Mar and Brandon Ophoff finished fifth, giving the Lions 14 points in one race and 48 overall.

Linn-Mar held the lead for two more races, but Cedar Falls nudged ahead by winning the 4x100 relay in the next-to-last event of the day, leaving the Lions out of bullets and ending the drama.

Cedar Falls won the Class 4A title, but the Metro was well represented in the boys standings. Linn-Mar finished third, Washington placed fourth, Prairie came in sixth and Kennedy was 10th in Dennis Roloff's final season as head coach.

The Washington girls placed eighth in their Class 4A meet, putting five Metro teams in the top-10 overall at the coed meet.

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