Winterset sweeps golf tournament

The Creston and East Union golf programs combined to host a tournament for the first time Tuesday and coaches from both programs deemed it a success.

The girls from each participating school began by playing nine holes at Lakeshore Golf & Country Club in Afton, while the boys started with nine holes at Crestmoor Golf Club in Creston. Then after meals served at each site, the players switched sites for the final nine holes, with awards presented at the Crestmoor clubhouse.

Winterset stole much of the thunder in the inaugural event, sweeping both team titles and claiming the girls medalist honors by Jaya West with an 83. The Huskies took five of the top six individual spots in the boys meet in scoring 309 for a 14-stroke margin over Clarke. Austin Gonseth of Clarke was the boys medalist with a round of 71.

“Winterset’s one through six players are all interchangeable,” Creston coach Steve Shantz said. “They have lots of depth.”

Senior Makaela Downing was the highlight of the day for Creston, shooting 100 as runner-up girls medalist. Winterset’s Gracie Briney also shot 100, but Downing took runner-up honors on the basis of handicap hole tiebreaker.

“That was a good day for Makaela. She was steady today,” Shantz said.

“One thing I noticed in watching Makaela at Afton was that she was chipping around the greens better than she had been,” assistant coach Bryce Schafer said. “She hadn’t been scoring because she wasn’t getting it up there on the green like she was today.”

Averi Culbertson also competed for the Panther girls, who didn’t have the required number of players to post a team score. Kylie Metheny was unable to play Tuesday with a hand injury.

Chasse Downing was the Creston boys leader with an 89 and Max Skellenger finished at 92. Skellenger was sitting at 2-over par with two holes to play, but shot 4-over on those holes to end with a 41 at Lakeshore.

“Our boys played better today than on Thursday against Atlantic,” Shantz said. “With the inexperience that we have, that was a pretty good performance in their first tournament.”

Gwen Nixon (108) and Kysen Kessler (86) led the East Union teams Tuesday. Lenox leaders were Aiden Eggert (109) and Hadley Christensen (136) were Lenox leaders.

The Tri-County Battle of the Links trophy went to Winterset boys with their score of 309.

“Usually on this day before we started this tournament, we always played against Winterset and Clarke for a traveling trophy, so we awarded that as well today,” Shantz said.

GIRLS

Team scoring — 1. Winterset 394; 2. Clarke 441; 3. East Union 474; Lenox and Creston incomplete teams.

Creston — Makaela Downing 100; Averi Culbertson 136.

East Union (474) — Gwen Nixon 108; Sara Collins 115; Averie Eckels 125; Lizzie Hadley 126; Abbie Wuebker 142.

Lenox — Hadley Christensen 136.

Medalist — Jaya West, Winterset, 83. Runner-up — Makaela Downing, Creston, 100 (handicap hole winner); Gracie Briney, Winterset, 100.

BOYS

Team scoring — 1. Winterset 309; 2. Clarke 323; 3. Creston 371; 4. East Union 412; 5. Lenox 474.

Creston (371) — Chasse Downing 89; Max Skellenger 92; Garrett Fry 93; Carson Rieck 97; Marshall Long 101; Casen Dryden 108.

East Union (412) — Kyson Kessler 86; Josh Lopez 96; Brock Jones 112; Jake Jones 118; Ty Tallmon 122.

Lenox (474) — Aiden Eggert 109; Daysen Greg 113; Patten Adams 115; Trayce Miller 137.

Medalist — Austin Gonseth, Clarke, 71. Runner-up — Luke Lindy, Winterset, 75.

OVERALL

Team scoring — 1. Winterset 703; 2. Clarke 764; 3. East Union 886; (Creston and Lenox incomplete girls teams).