Although the Ankeny Centennial boys’ golf team swept the top two individual places in a CIML Conference triangular meet on Tuesday at Copper Creek, the Jaguars were unable to pull out a victory against either Waukee Northwest or host Southeast Polk.
The Wolves posted a score of 303 to defeat both of their conference rivals. Centennial and Southeast Polk each finished with a 308 total and were also tied after the fifth score, but the Rams had a better sixth score by two strokes to win the tiebreaker.
“We are in a familiar position, a position we have found ourselves both of my previous two seasons as coach,” said Centennial coach Andrew Reedy, whose team is now 1-5 in the league. “We are seeing signs of our ability to compete with the best teams in the state, and I believe we can. We have to get better in order to do that, and I am confident in this group’s ability and desire to do that.”
Centennial’s McCoy Miller carded a 1-under-par 70 to earn medalist honors. It was his third under-par round of the season.
“McCoy is now 6-under-par for the four rounds on the year,” Reedy said. “The thing I love is that he still has a lot in the tank as he had an out-of-bounds tee shot today and a four-putt. When he has a round where he puts it all together, watch out! He is approaching each event with the mentality that he is there to prove he is one of the best in the state.”
Tiernan Logan shot a 73 for the Jaguars. He won a card-off against two other golfers to earn runner-up honors.
“Tiernan has had a disappointing start to the season by his standards, and this was his best overall round by far,” Reedy said. “He still didn’t hit it the way he wants to, but he managed his game much better than he has the previous three rounds. I’m proud of how he golfed his ball today. A very important skill as a golfer is to be able to salvage a good round when you don’t have your best stuff. Tiernan’s round today was a great example of that.”
Centennial’s Jett Lovanh fired an 82. Bennett Lewis had an 83, Everett Bloyer shot an 85, and Jackson Lewis added an 89.
“The rest of the guys struggled with different things today,” Reedy said. “Hole locations were tough, and a couple of them had never seen Copper Creek before. Bennett made his varsity debut and was our fourth scoring player. He has a bright future, and I am proud of how he competed.”
The Jaguars will compete in the Northwest Invitational on Thursday at The Legacy Golf Club in Norwalk.
“It goes without saying that we want to be playing our best golf four to six weeks from now,” Reedy said. “The cyclical nature of our game suggests that sustaining your best golf for four to six weeks is unlikely. With that knowledge, I like our progression. We will keep working hard and do our best to be playing our best when it matters the most.”