On Monday, the Ankeny boys’ golf team finished five strokes ahead of Ankeny Centennial while winning the Jesse Peck Invitational on the Jaguars’ home course at Briarwood Golf Club.
Two days later, Centennial returned the favor.
The Jaguars shot a 292 on Wednesday to defeat Ankeny by five strokes in a CIML Conference triangular meet at Otter Creek. Both teams lost to defending Class 4A state champion Valley, which posted a 287 total.
“Every event we are facing top-10 teams in the state and competing,” said Centennial coach Andrew Reedy. “We lost to Ankeny by five on Monday and beat them by five today. We lost to Valley by four on Monday and lost to them by five today. We are right there and shooting the type of scores we have to shoot to be competitive. Again, we had some guys make some mistakes that cost us, but every team can say that about every round. Get a little bit better each day; that is our goal.”
Valley raised its record to 4-0 in the conference. Both Ankeny and Centennial are now 1-3.
The Hawks’ total of 297 was just one stroke higher than their winning score on Monday.
“I thought we played well again today except the other two teams played even better,” said Ankeny coach Mike Weddingfeld. “It was a beautiful day at Otter and the course is in great shape, so I expected there may be some low scores and there were.”
Valley’s Braeden Nelson shot a 67 to earn medalist honors by three strokes. He is the two-time defending state runner-up.
“Nelson shooting 4-under-par gives (the Tigers) a nice lead with just their No. 1 player, and Centennial had some guys step up today and shoot really well,” Weddingfeld said. “We posted a solid team score and just got beat by better scores today so we will continue to practice and focus on improving.”
Centennial’s McCoy Miller carded a 70 to tie for second place with Valley’s Aidan McGreen. However, McGreen earned runner-up honors on a cardoff, forcing Miller to settle for third.
“McCoy was under-par for the second time in three events,” Reedy said. “I cannot overstate how proud of him I am. He bogeyed No. 17 today to move him to even par, but he comes right back and birdies 18 to break par. Confidence is a powerful thing, and he has it right now.”
Tiernan Logan placed seventh for the Jaguars with a 73. Charlie Morrissey finished eighth with a 74.
“Tiernan was fantastic today!” Reedy said. “He had been a kid that was struggling to start the season, but he went to work the last couple of days and figured some things out. He played super steady golf today, and his score really helped his team. Charlie had to grind out a number again today and was able to get to the clubhouse with a score that really helped us, too. Golf is a game that is unforgiving and when adversity starts, a lot of players struggle to get it back on track. Charlie has done a tremendous job of hanging in there and playing for his teammates and not getting too down.”
Jett Lovanh provided Centennial’s fourth score with a 75. Nathan Boehlert had a 77, and Jackson Lewis added an 82.
Ankeny’s Evan Hodapp placed fourth with a 71, while teammate Duncan Beelner took fifth with a 72. Kyler Crimmins was ninth with a 75.
Gavin Ross and Breck Hughes each shot a 79 for the Hawks. Sam Ortega finished with an 82 in his varsity debut.
“Evan, Duncan, Kyler and Gavin continued with really good rounds for us, and it was good to have Breck break that 80 barrier,” Weddingfeld said. “All six of my varsity guys missed some putts or hit an errant shot here and there so we are really focusing on limiting those small mistakes and letting them go. When you are still talking about a bad shot four holes later, you haven’t let it go so that is something we continue to stress. We know that our competition is going to be tough all year, and today shows that. I am definitely looking forward to a few days of practice and working on a few things before we play at Fort Dodge next week.”
Both teams will compete in the Joselyn Invitational on Tuesday at the Fort Dodge Country Club.
