Xavier Boys Golf

Saints stumble 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.

Cougars hold off Saints 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

Beer's 36 leads Saints to 3-shot win at Gardner

Jason Beer shot an even-par 36 and three teammates shot 38s to lead Xavier to a three-stroke win over Washington at the Warriors' triangular boys golf meet Thursday at Gardner golf course.

J.P. King, Ben Sagers and Rob Thinnes also shot 38 for Xavier.

Jon Landis shot a 37 to lead Washington. John Kopec shot a 38 and three golfers Dominic Rodriguez, Austin Bergstrom and Clayton Hoyt - shot 39.

Waterloo East was a distant third, 51 strokes behind Xavier.

Teams - 1. Xavier 150, 2. Washington 153, 3. Waterloo East 201.

Medalist - Jason Beer (X) 36

XAVIER (150): Jason Beer 36, JP King 38, Ben Sagers 38, Rob Thinnes 38, Matt Junge 39, Jackson Esker 39, John Drahozal 43

WASHINGTON (153): Jon Landis 37, John Kopec 38, Dominic Rodriguez 39, Austin Bergstrom 39, Clayton Hoyt 39, Zach Gothard 41, Max Claassen 43

WATERLOO EAST (201): Bryce Frost 48, Clay Wilkinson 50, Tyler Kirchman 50, Riley Hanks 53

King paces Saints to 6th at Drex Shootout

GALENA, Ill. - Cedar Rapids Washington sophomore Dominic Rodriguez tied for second place at the Drex Fall Golf Shootout Monday with a 2-over-par 74 at the Eagle Ridge Resort North Course.

Rodriguez collected two birdies in his round.

Ricky DeBartolo grabbed medalist honors with an even-par 72 to help West Des Moines Dowling Catholic take top honors at the 13-team event hosted by Dubuque Wahlert.

Linn-Mar senior Tyler McCann shot a 4-over-par 76 to help the Lions finish in fourth place. McCann tied for sixth in the individual standings.

Xavier senior J.P. King fired a 5-over-par 77 to lead the Saints to a sixth-place showing. King tied for ninth in the individual results.

Washington junior Austin Bergstrom shot a 6-over-par 78 to help Rodriguez and the Warriors finish in fifth place.

Jefferson senior Colten Jourdan shot an 80 to help the J-Hawks finish in ninth place.

DREX FALL GOLF SHOOTOUT
Eagle Ridge Resort (Galena, Ill.)
Par-72

TEAM STANDINGS
1. West Des Moines Dowling 300, 2. Cedar Falls 311, 3. Pleasant Valley 318, 4. Linn-Mar 322, 5. C.R. Washington 323, 6. C.R. Xavier 327, 7. Waterloo West 329, 8. Davenport Assumption 331, 9. C.R. Jefferson 339, 10. Dubuque Wahlert 344, 11. Aurora Central Catholic (Ill.) 346, 12. St. Edward Catholic (Ill.) 348, 13. Clinton 349.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
1. Ricky DeBartolo (Dowling) 72
2. Dominic Rodriguez (Washington) 74
Jacob Bermel (Cedar Falls) 74
Wil Hunemuller (Cedar Falls) 74
5. Jon Calhoun (Dowling) 75
6. Tyler McCann (Linn-Mar) 76
Erron Vandemore (Pleasant Valley) 76
Jack Gradoville (Dowling) 76
9. J.P. King (Xavier) 77
Tom Richter (Waterloo West) 77
Michael Becker (Davenport Assumption) 77
Sam DeBartolo (Dowling) 77

LINN-MAR (322): Tyler McCann 76, Clay Vieth 81, Mark Drake 82, Drew
McGovern 83, Trevor Berry 84, Trevor McCann 85.

WASHINGTON (323): Dominic Rodriguez 74, Austin Bergstrom 78, Matt Strand
84, Zach Gothard 87, John Landis 92, Clayton Hoyt 94.

XAVIER (327): J.P. King 77, Matt Junge 80, John Drahozal 83, Jason Beer
87, Ben Sagers 88, Rob Thinnes 91.

JEFFERSON (339): Colten Jourdan80, Ben Otis 83, Eric Lehmkuhl 87, Mitch
Willems 89, Zach Denny 89, Gavin Williams 95.