NIACC men in 6th after first day at Iowa Central Invite

FORT DODGE - The NIACC men's golf team is in sixth place at the Iowa Central Spring Invitational on Friday at the Fort Dodge Country Club.

NIACC shot a first-day 305. The 305 is the second lowest score of the spring for the Trojans, who shot a 302 on Tuesday at the DMACC Spring Invitational.

"It was a solid day for us (Friday)," NIACC coach Chris Frenz said. "We're starting to see the type of improvement that we need to see with around three weeks left in the year.

"The guys are getting more confident and we still have room to improve."

Host Iowa Central leads the 36-hole tournament with a 282. DMACC is in second with a 294 and Kirkwood is in third with a 302.

NIACC was led by freshman Kai Nelles with a 75, which is tied for 15th in the individual medalist competiton. There is a three-way tie at 70 at the top of the individual leaderboard.

Other counting scores for the Trojans were JJ Wickman (76), John Doherty (77) and Beau Thompson (77). Also for the Trojans, Jack Barragy shot 78 and Hunter Heintz shot 93.

"We were all in the 70s (Friday) and that feels good," Frenz said. "We know what we have to catch and we'll look to improve (Saturday).

"It's good to play a 2-day tournament so we can learn how to come back and put together two good scores."

The second round of the Iowa Central Spring Invitational is slated to start at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Team standings - Iowa Central 282, DMACC 294, Kirkwood 302, Mount Mercy University 302, Buena Vista 304, NIACC 305, Southwestern 316, Iowa Central B 316, Iowa Lakes 320, Hawkeye CC 323, University of Jamestown 336, Hawkeye CC B 347, Simpson College 352.