Xavier Boys Golf

Junge paces Saints at Cedar Falls golf

CEDAR FALLS - Matt Junge fired a 1-over-par 73 Friday to help the Xavier Saints finish second at the Cedar Falls Tiger Invitational at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course.

West Des Moines Valley claimed the top four spots in the individual standings and ran away with the team championship at 281. The Saints finished 21 strokes behind at 302.

John Ingwersen finished in seventh place for Xavier with a 3-over 75.

Davis Sutton shot a 4-over-par 76 to help the Kennedy Cougars finish fourth in the 12-team meet. He took ninth in the individual standings.

Linn-Mar placed seventh and Jefferson was eighth.

TIGER INVITATIONAL
At Pheasant Ridge Golf Course
Cedar Falls

Team Standings
1. West Des Moines Valley 281, 2. Xavier 302, 3. Waukee 305, 4. Kennedy 310, 5. Southeast Polk 313, 6. Cedar Falls 315, 7. Linn-Mar 326, 8. Jefferson 332, 9. Dubuque Wahlert 342, 10. Dubuque Senior 348, 11. Western Dubuque 349, 12. Waterloo East 387.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Broc Everett, WDM Valley      69
2. Jeff Swegle, WDM Valley       70
3. John Walsh, WDM Valley        71
4. Isaac Vandersee, WDM Valley   71
5. Conner Littlefield, Waukee    72
6. Matt Junge, Xavier            73
7. Jon Ingwersen, Xavier         75
8. Tyler McGovern, W Dubuque     75
9. Davis Sutton, Kennedy         76
10. Jared Deines, Cedar Falls    76

XAVIER RESULTS
6. Matt Junge 73, 7. Jon Ingwersen 75, 11. Ben Sagers 76, 18. Robbie Thinnes 78, 30. John Drahozal 82, 43. Jordan Even 84

KENNEDY RESULTS
9. Davis Sutton 76, 11. Conner Koberg 76, 19. Cole Murdock 79, 19. Quinn Jamrock 79, 30. Seth Nutt 82, 47. Harrison Moore 85.

LINN-MAR RESULTS
24. Jason Gingrich 80, 28. Jacob Sevcik 81, 30. Trevor McCann 82, 37. Drew McGovern 83, 55. Elliott Siefort 87, 55. Kile Bean 87

JEFFERSON RESULTS
30. Zach Denny 82, 30. Ben Otis 82, 37. Jake VanOrt 83, 47. Mitch Willems 85, 53. Gavin Williams 86, 53. Mike Loboda 86

Saints soar like eagles at MVC golf

The members of the Xavier High School golf team thought Monday might be a good day for one of them to fire an eagle at Twin Pines.

They were wrong. Three of them did.

The Saints rode their surge of eagles to a 26-shot bulge in the race for top honors in the Valley Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference standings.

Xavier has a 36-hole total of 588 for a 26-shot lead over Linn-Mar heading into the final round at Hunters Ridge on Sept. 24.

Matt Junge, Ben Sagers and John Drahozal all shot eagle-3's on par-5 holes. Junge and Sagers collected their eagles on the 502-yard 11th hole while Drahozal got his eagle on the 455-yard 13th hole.

Junge rode his eagle to an even-par 72 to finish second in the individual standings Monday. Greg Lange of Wahlert topped the field with a 2-under 70.

"The eagle on 11 took me from 1-over to 1-under, so that's what helped," said Junge.

Junge reached the green in two shots, then sunk a long putt. "It was about 35 feet. So a nice putt," he said. "Pretty straight. A little right to left.

"I actually thought I left it short. But they cut the greens and rolled them, so it got there just by that much."

Junge and Sagers are tied for first place in the individual Valley standings after 36 holes at 144. Sagers shot a 68 at the MVC Super Meet Aug. 9 and followed with a 76 Monday, while Junge has fired a 72 in both rounds.

Junge needed only 28 putts Monday to continue his string of success. He won the CRANDIC title last week and has played well this season.

"I've always hit it pretty good this year, but I've started to putt well lately, especially today, which is kind of big news for me," he said.

The Saints posted five of the top-8 scores Monday to beat Linn-Mar by 12 strokes. Junge shot his 72, Robbie Thinnes had a 74 and Sagers, Drahozal and John Ingwersen all finished with 76's.

"I couldn't be more pleased," said Xavier Coach Tim O'Brien. "We're coming together as a team and I'm pretty happy about that."

Trevor McCann of Linn-Mar shot a 4-over 76 Monday and sits in fourth place in the Valley Division standings with a 36-hole total of 148. Dominic Rodriguez of Washington also shot a 76 Monday and is tied for seventh overall at 153.

Thinnes is sitting in fifth place at 149 and Drahozal is tied for seventh at 153.

VALLEY DIVISION
At Twin Pines Golf Course

Team Standings
1. Xavier 298, 2. Linn-Mar 310, 3. Wahlert 312, 4. Waterloo West 314, 5. Washington 315, 6. Prairie 315, 7. Cedar Falls 325.

36-Hole Totals
1. Xavier 588, 2. Linn-Mar 614, 3. Wahlert 617, 4. Waterloo West 628, 5. Washington 632, 6. Cedar Falls 634, 7. Prairie 641.

Top 10 Individuals
36-Hole Totals
1. Ben Sagers, Xavier        68-76--144
2. Matt Junge, Xavier        72-72--144
3. Greg Lange, Wahlert       76-70--146
4. Trevor McCann, Linn-Mar   72-76--148
5. Robbie Thinnes, Xavier    75-74--149
6. Alec Braun, Cedar Falls   73-78--151
7. Charlie Smith, Wahlert    76-77--153
8. John Drahozal, Xavier     77-76--153
9. Dominic Rodriguez, Wash   77-76--153
10. Will Shirey, West        75-78--153

Monday's Results

XAVIER (298): Matt Junge 72, Robbie Thinnes 74, Ben Sagers 76, John Ingwersen 76, John Drahozal 76, Jordan Even 82.

LINN-MAR (310): Trevor McCann 76, Jacob Sevcik 78, Elliott Siefert 78, Drew McGovern 78, Kile Bean 79, Jason Gingrich 82.

WASHINGTON (315): Dominic Rodriguez 76, Matt Strand 78, Austin Bergstrom 78, Jon Landis 83, Zach Gothard 84, Evan Jankwietz 87.

PRAIRIE (315): Matt Edl 78, Harry Knutson 78, Collin Vondracek 78, Drew Digman 81, Cal Clark 81, Blake Seda 86.

Sagers' 37 leads Xavier at Jones Park

Ben Sagers shot a 37 to lead Xavier to a five-stroke win Thursday in a quadrangular boys golf meet at Jones Park.

Xavier bested Iowa City West. Jefferson was third, a shot behind the Trojans. Waterloo East was a distant fourth.

John Ingwersen shot a 38 and Jordan Even a 39 for Xavier.

Mitch Willems led Jefferson with a 38.

Teams -- 1. Xavier 155, 2. Iowa City West 160, 3. Jefferson 161, 4. Waterloo East 194

XAVIER (155): Ben Sagers 37, John Ingwersen 38, Jordan Even 39, John Drahozal 41, Alex Fox 41

JEFFERSON (161): Mitch Willems 38, Zach Denny 40, Michael Loboda 41, Jake Van Oort 42

Little Hawks nip Cougars, Saints at CRANDIC golf

In a match as tight as size-9 shoes on size-10 feet, Iowa City High claimed the CRANDIC boys golf meet by one stroke over Kennedy and two strokes over Xavier on a sun-kissed Ellis Park course Tuesday.

Xavier boasted the medalist with a 73 by junior Matt Junge, but the Little Hawks’ Zach MacMillan came in second at 74 and Grant Simpson was third at 75. Kennedy’s top finisher, senior Harrison Moore, also tied Simpson for third.

Iowa City High put three golfers in the top 10 en route to its team total of 311, while Kennedy (312) and Xavier (313) placed two each. And that was the difference.

The three frontrunners far outdistanced the others in the eight-team field, with Washington the best of the rest at 329.

“I’m  disappointed we didn’t win, but not unhappy,” said Kennedy Coach Mark Wilden. “We’ve won this tournament before with a 312, so that’s a good score.”

He noted that his young Cougars, with a quartet of sophomores, beat Iowa City High by a stroke last week at a nine-hole meet on the same course. So turnabout is fair play.

“This was good for us,” the veteran coach said. “The kids realize they’re not going to win every time they go out. It will help get ‘em in focus.”

One of his underclassmen, Conner Koberg, carded a 78 to tie for sixth. Another, Cole Murdoch, just missed the top 10 with a 79.

For his part, Xavier Coach Tim O’Brien said having Junge top the field was a stellar accomplishment. “There are a lot of quality players here today,” he said. “And Matt shot really well.”

Also scoring well for Xavier were senior Robbie Thinnes with a 77, good for fifth place, and junior Ben Sagers with a 79 that tied for 11th.

“Our top three showed great leadership,” O’Brien said. “To have three players shoot in the 70's at Ellis is quite an accomplishment.”

Junge, who had four birdies to along with three  bogies, would have been under par for the day had it not been for a breakdown on the par-3 11th hole. He hit his tee shot into a bunker and then 4-putted for a double bogey.

Otherwise, he said, “I was putting real well today. It was the best part of my game.”

Thinnes was equally consistent. He made two birdies but had no 3-putts, no double-bogeys and no penalties.

Sagers, on the other hand, was 5-over after six holes, then scrambled back with eight pars in a row. He would have cracked the top 10 had he not bogeyed the 15th and double-bogeyed the 18th.

Then there was Saints junior John Ingwersen, who carded an 86 the hard way. He was 12-over after the first five holes and shot a 50 after nine. He played his last 13 holes at 2-over, carding an even par 36 on the back nine.

For Kennedy, Moore was a model of consistency throughout the day after starting out with two bogeys. He paired a 39 on the front nine with a 36 on the back.

Teammate Koberg could easily have matched him except for a nine on the par-5 12th hole.

“You can say, ‘What if,’ but that’s what happens in golf,” said Cougar Coach Wilden.

While Jefferson and Washington finished out of the running in the team standings, each did claim a golfer in the top 10. J-Hawk senior Ben Otis and Warrior junior Dominic Rodriquez both fired a 78, good for a tie for sixth place.

CRANDIC

At Ellis Golf Course, Par  72

TEAM SCORING
1.  Iowa City High 311, 2. Kennedy  312, 3. Xavier 313, 4. Washington 329, 5. Iowa City West 332. 6.  (tie) Jefferson, Linn-Mar 337, 8. Prairie  345.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
1.Matt Junge (CRX) 73, 2. Zach MacMillian (ICH) 74,  3. (tie) Grant Simpson (ICH), Harrison Moore (CRK) 75, 5. Robbie Thinnes (CRX)  77; 6. (tie) Ben Otis (CRJ), Conner Koberg (CRK), Noah Federici (ICW), Dominic  Rodriguez (CRW), Matt Goddard (ICH) 78.

TEAM RESULTS
IOWA CITY HIGH (311): MacMillian 74, Simpson 75,  Goddard 78, Brady Swenning 84, Andrew Hein 89, Ryan Young  89.

KENNEDY (312): Moore 75, Koberg 78, Cole  Murdock 79, Landon Crippes 80, Davis Sutton 81, Ross Gerhoff  83.

XAVIER (313): Junge 73, Thinnes 77, Ben Sagers  79, Jordan Even 84, John Drahozal 85, John Ingwersen  86.

WASHINGTON (329): Rodriguez 78, Jon Landis 82,  Zach Gothard 83, Matt Strand 86, Evan Jankwietz 88, Austin Bergstrom  94.

IOWA CITY WEST (332): Federici 78, JD Goodfellow 79,  Joe Scott 86, Dominic Muzzin 89, Drew Haas 90, Tyler Whitehead  91.

JEFFERSON (337): Otis 78, Zach Denny 80, Mitch Willems 86, Jake Van Oort 93, Michael Loboda 93, Jake Hanson  99.

LINN-MAR (337): Jason Gingrich 82, Trevor McCann 82,  Jacob Sevcik 84, Kile Bean 89, Bobby Charlton 89, Austin Banks  96.

PRAIRIE (345): Matt Edl 82, Cal Clark 87, Mitch  Lorenz 88, Blake Seda 88, Drew Digman 90, Harry Knutson  92.