One year after experiencing the disappointment of missing a trip to the state tournament by six strokes, the Grand Island Senior High boys golf team left nothing to chance Monday at Riverside Golf Club.
The Islanders shot 315 in breezy conditions to capture the Class A, District 3 tournament title by 13 strokes over second-place Omaha Creighton Prep. Seth Rhodes led four Grand Island golfers in the top 10, taking medalist honors with a 1-over-par 73.
Rhodes, a senior and three-year returning starter who made it to state individually last year, said he was thrilled to see Grand Island qualify for state as a team for the first time since 1997.
"This is it -- this is what we practice for every day -- to come out and perform like this," Rhodes said. "I don't think anybody probably expected us to win it or me to win (medalist), but when you prepare well, there's always a shot.
"This feels great. We're all very happy with what we accomplished."
It was quite a contrast to last year, GISH coach Scott Fox said.
"To go from that to playing well today and having the medalist with Seth and kind of pulling away from the field, it's a great feeling considering all the hard work these guys have put in during the last year," Fox said. "Last year has been brought up throughout this season. It was great to see all their hard work pay off."
Once again, the Islanders displayed plenty of balance. Junior Logan Almond (fourth with a 79), junior Ryan McCarty (seventh with an 81) and freshman Alec Anania (10th with an 82) joined Rhodes as individual medal-winners, while freshman No. 5 player Ryan Harris shot 84.
"It's awesome to be a part of this team," Rhodes said. "We have so much balance and competition on this team and it's great because the competition makes you better.
"This is all on coach Fox -- he's definitely the right guy for the job. He's somebody who's going to go out and get the seventh-graders playing so that when they're freshmen, they're ready to go. When I came here, I averaged 88 as a freshman and I was still the best player by six strokes, and now all of the sudden, I have to fight for my position every week, so it's a credit to all my teammates and coach Fox."
In turn, Fox said the Islanders showed impressive mental toughness while playing in 25 mph winds with gusts up to nearly 40 mph. No team, it appeared, handled the conditions better than Grand Island.
"I was surprised because Lincoln Southeast is a quality team and so is Creighton Prep," Fox said. "Obviously, it helps to play on our own course, but the wind was pretty steady and there were some large gusts, but our kids handled it really well.
"Give our guys credit. I can't take anything away from what they did today. They were really mentally tough -- like they've been all year -- and really patient and showed the ability to just grind it out."
Rhodes said he was actually pleased to see the wind blowing Monday because he felt like it gave him an advantage. That was especially the case on his home course at Riverside, which features heavily tree-lined fairways.
"I just kept the ball low all day," Rhodes said. "I kept it underneath the wind and ran it up to the hole.
"I couldn't tell you how many times I landed my chip short and just let them run all the way to the green. It was all about playing short."
Rhodes was stellar on the greens, needing just 25 putts. His putter was hot from the outset as he sank 10-footers to save par on both Nos. 1 and 2 and went on to record four birdies against five bogies.
After recording back-to-back birdies on holes 7 and 8 to get to 1 under, Rhodes added birdies at Nos. 10 and 18. His birdie at the par-5 18th, set up by a wedge shot to within four feet of the cup, gave him a one-shot victory over William Pieper of Omaha Creighton Prep (74).
Pieper pulled even with Rhodes at 1 under at the ninth when he holed his approach shot from 160 yards for eagle. Playing in the same group, the top two finishers remained tied until the 18th when Rhodes made a birdie and Pieper settled for par.
"It's great to see because Seth has been a very dedicated golfer for our program," Fox said. "He kind of set the bar for everyone and to see him put it all together today at the district meet and come out of here as the medalist with the competition he faced here, I'm very proud of him."
Class A, District 3
At Grand Island Riverside G.C.
Team Standings
(Top 3 Qualify)
Grand Island 315, Omaha Creighton Prep 328, Lincoln Southeast 341, Papillion-LaVista South 343, North Platte 349, South Sioux City 372, Omaha North 391, Lincoln High 445.
Individual State Qualifiers
1, Seth Rhodes, Grand Island, 73. 2, William Pieper, Creighton Prep, 74. 3, Ross Friehe, Papillion-LaVista South, 76. 4, Logan Almond, Grand Island, 79. 5, Taylor Price, Lincoln Southeast, 79. 6, Mark Stovie, Creighton Prep, 80. 7, Ryan McCarty, Grand Island, 81. 8, Derek Knoedler, North Platte, 81. 9, Trevor Romjue, Lincoln Southeast, 81. 10, Alec Anania, Grand Island, 82.
Grand Island (315)
Ryan McCarty 81, Seth Rhodes 73, Alex Anania 82, Logan Almond 79, Ryan Harris 84.
