Phillips, Lentz lead NIACC women's golf team
By BLAKE SCHULTZ, Of The Globe Gazette
MASON CITY — The NIACC and Waldorf men's and women's golf teams are programs heading in similar directions.
In nearly perfect golf conditions Thursday at the NIACC Invitational at the Mason City Country Club, the schools continued to make strides. Waldorf won the women's title with a team total of 320 while NIACC was third with a season's-best score of 345. The Warriors finished fifth in the men's team race with a 308 and NIACC took seventh with a 317.
"They're seeing the fruits of their labor pay off toward the end, so I'm confident they'll continue on that trend," Waldorf coach Mark Clouse said of his teams.
Everybody was chasing Iowa Lakes by the tournament's end on the men's side. The Lakers won the invite with a 284, led by Matt Bennett's 4-under par round of 68 (33-35), which netted him medalist honors. DMACC was second with a 295, Kirkwood was third at 301 and Iowa Central, led by former Mason City golfer David Mejia's round of 75 (41-34), took fourth with a 306.
Junior Hugo Becerra was the Warriors' top performer with an even-par round of 72 (37-35).
"He's been very, very consistent and had a great Fall," Clouse said. "I know he left a couple shots out there today – he bogeyed his last two so the taste in his mouth probably wasn't as sweet as what it could've been – but he's playing real well."
Rick Young, of Garner, added a 78 for the Warriors, Austin Heeren shot 79 and Kole Hallmark carded an 80.
For the NIACC men, sophomore Sam Steinwand refound a little bit of his game. The Trojans' No. 1 fired a 4-over par round of 76 (40-36) and tied for 16th individually. NIACC coach Chris Frenz said he was happy with how Steinwand, who lipped out two birdie putts Thursday, has bounced back.
"Sam has been kind of struggling the last week so to come back with a 76, I'm encouraged with that," the coach said. "He's been really working hard on the game. His driver's a little loose right now so as soon as we get that figured out, he'll be fine."
Joe Nordquist and Brandon Nordman each shot 80 for the Trojans and Zach Nicholson added an 81.
"I'm encouraged by the (317), but you look at the 284, the 295 and 301, that's what we've still got to get to," Frenz said. "We still have work to do, they've got to stay hungry and hopefully have a good two weeks of practice before regionals."
On the women's side, Waldorf bested DMACC by four strokes to take home the title.
Maria Valdes finished third place overall for the Warriors with a round of 77. Halle Hauser and Kailee Ward each added rounds of 80 and Maggie Peters rounded out the scoring with an 83.
"We've been having a real consistent spring," Clouse said. "Our girls are pretty tightly meshed with the grouping and are peaking at the right time. We have our conference meet coming up so it's good to see late in the spring."
Meanwhile, NIACC was busy posting its best round as a team in a couple years.
Lyndie Phillips led the Lady Trojans with a personal-best round of 84, Savannah Lentz and Bailey Walter each shot 86 and Carlie Eckenrod added an 89.
"I'm really excited for her because she's been struggling," Frenz said of Phillips. "She's been in that mid- to upper-90s and now to come down and shoot the 84, now it's clicking."
NIACC finished 19 strokes behind DMACC for second place and cleared Iowa Central by seven strokes. Frenz said it was the first time in two year NIACC has beaten the Tritons.
"I liked how we played today and if they keep giving me that kind of effort, you can't complain about that," Frenz said.
NIACC INVITATIONAL
AT THE MASON CITY COUNTRY CLUB
MEN
IOWA LAKES (284) – Matt Bennett 33-35–68 (medalist), Jacob Baker 35-34–69, Jordan Henry 38-35–73, Zach Elgersma 37-37–74.
DMACC (295) – Braxton Risetter 36-34–70, Devon Woody 39-32–71, Jordan Eng 40-37–77, Grant Juber 38-39–77.
KIRKWOOD (301) – Jordan Even 33-41–74, Carson Whittington 34-41–75, Eddie Doyle 37-38–75, Charlie Hartwig 36-41–77.
IOWA CENTRAL (306) – David Mejia 41-34–75, Christian Birdsall 40-37–77, Logan Yates 38-39–77, Ross Grekoff 38-39–77.
WALDORF (308) – Hugo Becerra 37-35–72, Rick Young 38-40–78, Austin Heeren 40-39–79, Kole Hallmark 41-38–79.
SOUTHWESTERN (309) – Avery Elliot 39-35–74, Ben Sondquist 37-38–75, Dmoinick Moreno 37-39–76, Christian Groumoutis 41-43–84.
NIACC (316) – Sam Steinwand 40-36–76, Joe Nordquist 43-37–80, Brandon Nordman 39-41–80, Zach Nicholson 40-41–81.
HAWKEYE (336) – Austin Buhrow 39-39–78, Jacob Meester 43-38–81, Michael Milius 41-46– 87, Ryan Spurtin 45-45–90.
ELLSWORTH (343) – Anibal Reinoso 36-37–73, Brannon Arends 42-45–87, Sam Miller 45-43–88, Cole Birchmier 47-48–95.
WOMEN
WALDORF (320) – Maria Valdes 39-38–77, Halle Hauser 39-41–80, Kailee Ward 43-37–80, Maggie Peters 41-42–83.
DMACC (324) – Ashley Dumler 34-40–74, Emily Rinehart 38-42–80, Rachel Walljasper 38-44–82, Josie McMartin 47-41–88.
NIACC (345) – Lyndie Phillips 42-42–84, Savannah Lentz 46-40–86, Bailey Walter 44-42–86, Carlie Eckenrod 45-44–89.
IOWA CENTRAL (352) – Julie Laisney 36-36–72, Kylie Kaiper 47-42–89, Shannon Michelson 47-48–95, Payton Christy 49-47–96, Hannah Hoffa 48-48–96.
IOWA LAKES (N/A) – Ashton Connelly 41-40–81, Taylor Knight 41-41–82, Kelley Harris 44-43–87.
SOUTHWESTERN (N/A) – Evy Wells 47-46–93, Brooke Decker 52-48–100.