Consistency was the name of the game Monday for Iola High’s golf team.
With four players finishing in the top nine individually, the Mustangs were able to coast to the team victory at the Buck Quincy Invitational.
Iola’s team score — consisting of its top four individual marks — of 165 was 16 strokes better than runner-up Anderson County. Osawatomie was third at 194.
Individually, Iola’s Kaden Macha took third with a 38, followed by Shane Walden in fifth at 41, Drake Dieker at eighth with a 42 and Adam Peterson in ninth with a 44.
Two other Iolans were just behind. Weston Hines finished 11th with a score of 45, while Matt Jacobs took 13th with a 47.
Monday’s competition was pared to nine holes because of an afternoon thunderstorm that delayed the start by about an hour.
Humboldt High’s golfers also competed, finishing seventh as a team with a 209.
Robbie Sellman’s 41 tied with Walden for fifth, although Sellman was relegated to sixth through a tie-breaker. Rhett Smith’s 44 placed him in 10th, because of a tie-breaker with Peterson. Tanner Porter’s 60 placed him 36th. Conner Roseberry finished 39th with a 64.
Iola coach Doug Kerr said the Mustangs have been able to stay competitive despite miserable weather conditions that have greatly hampered his team’s practice time.
“With baseball or softball, you can practice indoors,” he noted. “You can’t do that with golf. When the weather gets bad, I just send the guys home and tell them to practice putting in their garages. It’s about all you can do.
“Are we playing as good as we’re capable?” he asked. “Probably not. But are we playing as well as we can with the practices we’ve had? Definitely. They’ve exceeded expectations considering how much practice we’ve missed.”
Mustangs take Buck Quincy crown
