McPHERSON — There was a sense of deja vu for Iola High’s golf team at the Class 4A State Golf Tournament at Turkey Creek Golf Course in McPherson on Wednesday. Iola took fourth place for the second year in a row, despite shooting 20 strokes better.
Last season, Iola finished with a 334 and one stroke out of third place. This year, Iola shot a 314 as a team and was four strokes behind the second and third place teams.
“We preached to the kids all year long, we looked at the whole road and season, compared to just the end result,” coach Doug Kerr said. “If you just focus on the end result, there is only one team that’s happy. We were right in it, until the last two group’s scores were handed in for second place. That’s a tribute to the kids coming back and they played their tails off. I don’t think they have any regrets.”
Iola did beat two of their opponents from last year — Ottawa and Topeka-Hayden. Buhler won the tournament this season with a 293.
“Like I’ve said before, golf is so different from football. In football there is a defense. You can keep someone from scoring,” Kerr said. “There’s nothing we can do to stop someone in golf. We were sitting in second place with two groups left to come in [and report their scores]. You can’t control the outcome and you have to be proud about what you did.”
Individually, Kaden Macha shot a 71 and had a shot at finishing in second place overall. He had a playoff with two other golfers that also shot a 71, but took fifth place. Either way, it was a better performance for the senior to go out on. After taking first place overall during his sophomore season, Macha finished in 22nd last year.
Shane Walden finished in second for Iola, and 38th overall with a 79. Seven golfers, including Walden, shot a 79. Drake Dieker followed in 43rd with an 80 — three other golfers had the same score. Adam Peterson shot a 84 for 59th place. Two other golfers also had that score. Matt Jacobs finished with a 95 for 89th place. Again, two other golfers had that score as well.
There were 102 golfers at the tournament.
“My hats off to the kids for fighting hard today,” Kerr said. “I was really proud and to have Kaden have a chance for a second place finish, I’m just really proud of all five seniors. It will be just a regroup next year, rebuild.”
It will have to be a complete overhaul for the golf roster. All five senior golfers finished up their high school careers at the state tournament.
“Hopefully the success of these kids will inspire younger kids to go and play and be a part of that,” Kerr said. “They can see that in Iola, in a small town, you can accomplish things if you want to.”
Kerr noted that if the golf tournament was divided up into Class 4A-I and Class 4A-II, as it is in basketball and football, then Iola would have been the Class 4A-II champions the past two seasons.
“People are going to look at this season and say one of two things: We came up short or what a great season,” Kerr said. “I’m going with what a great season.”
Iola golf wins fourth at state; Macha takes fifth individually
