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Boys golfers finish in fifth among 11 teams at Durant
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · April 27, 2017


The boys golf team finished fifth in a field of 11 teams April 18 at the Wildcat Invitational.


The two home teams — Durant and Wilton both call Wahkonsa Golf course “home” — took first and second respectively, with 341 and 346 on 18 holes.

North Cedar finished third with 355, Winfield-Mt. Union took fourth with 363, West Branch took fifth with 368, Mid-Prairie took sixth with 368, Regina took seventh with 374, Tipton took eighth with 380, West Liberty took ninth with 409, Louisa-Muscatine took 10th with 432 and Columbus-Junction took 11th with 455.

Head Bears Coach Randy Sexton said the tournament fell on “an extremely windy day.”

“We had a lot of scores higher, team-wise, then we would expect,” he said.

The front nine had West Branch in third place, “but we did not play the back as well,” he said. as it added 10 strokes to the top four golfers’ scores.

Still, the invitational fell just three days before West Branch would return to that same course again in a quadrangular meet.

“And it was a good chance to see the course in a tournament atmosphere,” Sexton said. West Branch will also play at Wilton for the sectional meet. “We can take some things from it from the confidence side of seeing the course.”

Ted Bridges led the team by shooting 41-45 86, earning the No. 5 spot on the medalist list.

“Ted had a nice day,” the coach said, noting that Ted’s group consisted of the top three golfers that day, and that Ted actually tied with the No. 4 golfer on strokes.

“(Ted) had just one stretch in the back” where he shot six over across three holes,” Sexton said.

“Other than that, he had a nice day. He’ll keep working to get better,” the coach said.

Brady Lukavsky shot 44-47 91, Trevor Thein shot 46-49 95 and Evan O’Neil shot 48-48 96 to contribute to the team score. Matt Whaley, 47-50 97, and Jack Robertson, 51-47 98, also played varsity at the Wilton Invitational.

Sexton said the Wilton contest prompted the team to return to practice “punch shots” and “flop shots” because many players wanted to better handle balls landing among trees.

Wahkonsa’s challenges feature sand, longer par-fours and other “unique challenges,” the coach said.

“Once they see it a couple of times, it will not be as hard as they originally thought,” Sexton said.

Before heading back to Wahkonsa, the Bears got to do something for the first time in two years — host a meet in West Branch. A meet rescheduled from May 8 was moved up to April 20 and the Bears hosted Regina at Cedars Edge Golf Course.

“Only a handful (of our players) have played a meet at home,” the coach said.

West Branch saw a few birdies in the 18-hole tournament, but the coaches want not so much to see more of those as they want to see fewer double bogeys or worse.

“Bogeys are going to happen — we know that,” he said. “But if our kids shoot 45 on a bad day, we’re fine with that.”

He said getting a handle on the doubles and triples are the best ways to get scores down and closer to the 30s on nine holes.

Sexton did not want to say which golfers secured Top Six spots yet because he wants all players fighting for those spots, and noted that the home meet would be a “completely different” lineup.



Hosting Regina

West Branch hosted Regina April 20 at Cedars Edge Golf Course, beating the visitors 176 to 193.

Scoring for the team: Ted Bridges 42, Trevor Thein 42, Matt Whaley 46, Brady Lukavsky 46. Other varsity scores: Evan O’Neil 48, Mitchell Knoop 56.

Bridges and Thein tied as top medalist.

Junior varsity fell to the Regals, 192-198.

Leading the Bears were Cade Aspelmeier with 46, and Jack Robertson with 47. Also: Kristian Nalan 49, Bryce Simpson 56, Alex miller 58, Ben Colbert 60, Zach Linn 67, Matt Paulsen 58, Barrett Walsh 65 and Jackson Taylor 72.

Nalan, Simpson, Miller, Colbert, Paulsen, Walsh and Taylor all had personal record scores for nine holes, Coach Sexton said.



At Wahkonsa

West Branch finished third in a quadrangular meet Friday at Wahkonsa golf course.

Home teams Wilton and Durant won with 164 and 165, respectively, with the Bears third with 184 and Regina fourth with 186.

Ted Bridges and Matt Whaley shot 45 to lead West Branch. Cade Aspelmeier and Evan O’Neil shot 47 and Trevor Thein shot 48. Brady Lukavsky shot 49 to round off the Top Six.

Several junior varsity golfers took the course as well: Jack Robertson 54, Mitchell Knoop 53, Kristian Nalan 58 and Bryce Simpson 50.



Hosting Tipton

The Bears hosted Tipton on Monday, defeating the visitors 173-186 at Cedars Edge Golf Course.

Trevor Thein medaled and led the bears with 37, followed by Ted Bridges with 42, the runner-up medalist. Other varsity scores: Brady Lukavsky 48, Matt Whaley 51, Evan O’Neil 51, Jack Robertson 46.

West Branch’s junior varsity also won, beating Tipton 199-231.

Kristian Nalan led the team with 43 to earn medalist honors; Cade Aspelmeier followed up with 49 and runner-up medalist honors.

JV scores: Cade Aspelmeier 49, Mitchell Knoop 53, Kristian Nalan 43, Bryce Simpson 52, Cale Donovan 55, Alex Miller 61, Ben Colbert 51, Zach Linn 54, Jackson Taylor 67.