The Ankeny Centennial boys’ golf squad placed third in the Jesse Peck Invitational on Monday at Briarwood Golf Club, while defending champion Ankeny finished sixth in the eight-team field.
The Jaguars posted a 300 total on their home course. Indianola won the meet with a 294, while Dallas Center-Grimes took second with a 297.
“I have so many positive takeaways from today,” said Centennial coach Andrew Reedy. “Our JV kids had some nice rounds again, and I am just generally pleased with the direction we are headed.”
Ankeny shot a 326 in its opening meet of the season. Four of the six Hawks were making their varsity debuts.
“I know there were a lot of nerves starting the round, and several of the guys said they hit some bad shots right away and I was expecting that,” said Ankeny coach Mike Weddingfeld. “I thought we did do a good job of settling in and played some good holes of golf, but we just had too many errant shots off the tee and limiting those mistakes will be key going forward.”
Indianola’s Jackson Buchanan carded a 3-under-par 69 to earn medalist honors. His teammate, Hayden Stockberger, shot a 70 and tied for runner-up honors with Chase Perrin of Dallas Center-Grimes.
Centennial was led by Everett Bloyer. He fired a 72 to place fourth.
“Everett had a really nice round today for the second event in a row,” Reedy said. “We moved him into the varsity lineup after his good round on Thursday, and he delivered again today. He is playing some really nice golf right now and is so in control of his game. I am very happy that he is getting the payoff from all his hard work this offseason. It’s always fun to see kids get better.”
McCoy Miller shot a 73 for the Jaguars. He tied for fifth overall.
“McCoy left some shots out there,” Reedy said. “He had a couple of ‘bad bogeys’ and a double bogey on a short par-3. He is playing well overall right now and when he gets it all to fully click, there are some low numbers in there waiting to come out. He also told me an opposing parent told him after the round that he had a great attitude today. I am more proud of that than the golf score.”
Centennial’s Colby Zinn tied for 14th with a 77.
“Colby’s game is rounding into shape,” Reedy said. “He has the shots he needs, putts the ball well and is a great kid. He is learning to manage his game right now and when he gets that figured out, he will be dangerous!”
Jackson Lewis had a 78 for the Jaguars. Tiernan Logan carded an 81, and Cade Miller added an 83.
Jett Lovanh (76) and Kinnick Nelson (77) posted solid scores for Centennial’s JV team.
“There is competition, and the kids are pushing each other to get better,” Reedy said. “That is a great thing to have!”
Chase Ortega led Ankeny with a 78. Griffen Beelner had a 79.
“Griffen and Chase both stepped up and turned in scores under 80 so I was really happy for them, but I know they let some shots get away from them as well so cleaning up the mistakes will be a key focus for us moving forward,” Weddingfeld said.
Elliott McHose carded an 84 for the Hawks. Ryan Constable had an 85, Gavin Ross shot an 87, and Gage Behrens added a 91.
“Today’s theme was ‘penalty strokes’. We added up our penalties after the round today and with all six guys we had 34 penalty strokes, and 16 of those were from our top four scores that we counted,” Weddingfeld said. “We definitely did not do a good job of keeping the ball in play. The course was set up a little differently than we are used to as some holes the tees were moved up and some farther back than in the past so I am not sure that the boys mentally thought about the best shots to hit off the tee to put them in a good position; hitting driver is not always the best play. That is part of the learning curve so I expect us to improve on that front as well as the season progresses.
“Even though it was a tough start to the season, I thought the entire team handled themselves very well on the course and know that they are wanting to get to practice (Tuesday) and work out a few kinks before we travel to Willow Creek on Wednesday (to face Centennial and Valley),” he added.
