The first matchup this season between the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial boys’ golf teams turned out to be a close one.
Both squads competed in the 20-team Fort Dodge Invitational on Tuesday at the Fort Dodge Country Club. Centennial placed third with a 315 total, while Ankeny finished fifth with a 317.
“We had a decent day overall,” said Centennial coach Rick Fee. “We can’t be upset finishing third in such a big tournament, but we need to work on course management and starting and finishing our rounds (better).”
Three-time defending Class 4A state champion Waukee shot a 301 to win the meet. The Warriors edged runner-up Indianola by five strokes.
Ankeny coach Mike Weddingfeld was proud of the way his team played on an unfamiliar course.
“Only two of the boys had ever played there,” Weddingfeld said. “I think the rain (Monday) night helped to slow the greens down a bit and the fairways were holding so it was nice to hit the ball where you wanted it to go and it to land and stay there.”
Waukee’s Tanner Dinnebier shot a 2-under-par 69 to earn medalist honors. Teammate Brock Seiser was the runner-up with a 72.
Ankeny’s Drew Hensen also carded a 72 and placed third. He had four birdies on the day.
“Drew played another fantastic round for us,” Weddingfeld said. “He had two bad breaks that cost him maybe three strokes so he really could have had an outstanding round. He had a large chunk of mud on his ball on No. 18 which made the ball miss the green and get behind a tree, and on No. 14 he was inches from the ball rolling down the hill into the fairway but instead sat next to a tree where he had to chip out to fairway and made bogey.”
Centennial’s Jack Winkel placed seventh with a 77. He overcame a triple bogey on the par-4, No. 17 hole.
Lawson Hachmeister and Kellen Welsch each shot a 79 for the Jaguars, placing 18th and 19th, respectively. Ethan King fired an 80, Ben Meier had an 81, and Caden Kelling added an 88.
“The first and final two to three holes for most of the boys were rough,” Fee said. “We were either putting ourselves behind an eight-ball starting or finishing. We have the ability to shoot around 300 as a team, but we have to put two nines together in order to do so. It’s still very early in the year so we just need to tighten a couple things up as we get closer to the postseason.”
Aivin Legg carded a 79 for the Hawks and placed 16th. Jacob Adams shot an 81, Jake O’Brien had an 85, Sam Parkinson fired an 87, and Jonathon Carey finished with a 95 in his varsity debut.
“Aivin, Jacob and Jake really played well as only Adams had played the course and only once,” Weddingfeld said. “They had a few more bogeys than they wanted but did a good job of avoiding the bigger numbers. It was good to see that we can compete with all of those teams as many will be in our district at Whispering Creek in Sioux City. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but today was definitely a step in the right direction. This team of young guys is very level-headed on the course and just goes out and plays golf so they are a fun group to coach.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial also earned a dual-meet win over Fort Dodge, which shot a 360 on its home course. The Jaguars are now 4-0 in the CIML Iowa Conference, while the Hawks improved to 2-1.
Hensen and Winkel were the medalists for the dual meets.