Kimball fourth at State Golf Wise and McCloud medal winners

The Kimball High Boy's Golf Team finished 4th at the Class C State Tournament held at the Kearney Country Club Golf Course this past week and had two individual top 15 medal winners.

The Longhorns found themselves in 6th place after the first day with their team score of 334, but came back with a round of 321 on the second day to finish with a two-day total of 655. Grand Island Central Catholic won the 2018 tournament with their rounds of 320-317=637 with Elmwood Murdock runner-up with 318-329=647 and Creighton was third with 327-321=648. There were 15 teams plus additional individual state qualifiers.

It was a bit disappointing the scores of first day play for some of the Kimball golfers, but they came back with a positive round on day two to move up the leader board. Andrew McCloud had a rewarding finish to his Kimball High career as he tied for 11th place and brought home an individual medal from the top 15 medal group. The graduated senior shot a team leading first day round of 39-39=78 and stayed solid on day two with a round of 39-41=80 for a 158 total. Dillon Wise was off his usual game on day one, shooting 40-46=86, but to his credit he got it all together on day two with his round of 37-35=72 to also finish in a tie for 11th place at 158, giving the Longhorns two medal winners this year.

Zane Anthony finished 26th from the field of 94 golfers and was consistent with his play, shooting 42-41=83 and 41-42=83 for a total for the tournament of 166. Kole Bush had rounds of 45-44=89 and 41-45=86 for a two day total of 175, and Izaac Reuter ended up with rounds of 45-42=87 and 45-46=91 for a total of 178. Bush finished in the number 50 spot and Reuter was 61st.

Coach Chad Wise said, "I am proud of the guys for their play, but we just couldn't put it together for two days of play, and at this level you have to do that if you hope to win. It was all about getting of the tee box. At this course, you have to hit the fairways or you are hitting out of tall rough and it is hard to get good shots out of that rough. We were not getting off the tee box like we needed too. The greens were slower than we are used to and slower than we thought they would be, but we should have adapted to that. We played practice rounds both Sunday and Monday before we got into competition. The weather was good the first day and windy the second day. It is kind of a sour note knowing we could have scored better on day two." Coach Wise send on to say he wanted to thank this year's parents for the way they showed up every tournament all season long to show support.

Three of this year's team will be back next year for their senior seasons, but Kole Bush and Andrews McCloud have graduated, leaving Anthony, Reuter and Wise to head up next year's team. Coach Wise said this threesome, along with some of his younger players on this year's squad, will hopefully, work hard this summer playing in the Panhandle Youth Tour and other options of young golfers. "We expect to compete well again next season and are anxious to see what we can get done," he said. Congratulations on another good season and a great showing at the state tournament.