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SMH Cardinals Check Out Of Tournament Early

Last week it was the St. Mary's boys turn to try to prove th...

Bauer Finishes Seventh At Rain Shortened State Golf Tournament

Blake Bauer

O'Neill finished off the golf season this year with much of the same weather they started the year off with. After a two hour rain delay on the first day of the Class B state golf tournament, play got under way with rather nice conditions. O'Neill golfers were not able to take advantage of the nice weather and all struggled on the front nine. The back nine was much the same with the golfers pressing too much to shoot good scores and getting frustrated when it didn't happen. Dalton Jackson was able to improve his back nine and card an 88 for the first round. Cody Belzer and Luke Loecker both shot 93's and Nolan Swanson shot a 96 for the Eagles. Blake Bauer was able to come back from a rough front nine and pulled it together nicely on the back. Blake shot a 42 on the front but was able to come back with a one over 36 on the back to shoot a 78 first round score. All the teams knew the weather didn't look good for the second day, so everybody was relieved to get the first round in without any rain. The clear conditions did not last long as it started to rain about an hour after the O'Neill golfers walked off the course and did not stop for the next 18 hours. Kearney Country Club received over five inches of rain during the night, and the officials deemed the course unplayable for the second round. This caused the tournament to be shortened to just 18 holes. It was a disappointment for O'Neill, as they knew they didn't play well and were hoping to redeem themselves on the second day. There was one positive in this tournament in that Blake Bauer knew that he was in the top ten and ended up tying for seventh. "Blake has worked really hard on his game in the past four years, and it is nice to see him get rewarded for all his hard work at his last high school golf tournament," commented Coach Buller. "He has been a good golfer to build a team around, and he will be missed next year." Dalton Jackson finished in 44th, Luke Loecker and Cody Belzer finished in 63rd and Nolan Swanson finished in 68th. The team shot a 352 which placed them ninth out of 12 teams.

The O'Neill golf team took big strides this year qualifying as a team for the state tournament and will use this experience as a spring board to get back on the course and continue working on their game to improve for next year. With three varsity players back next year and many underclassman chopping at the bit to fill spots left by seniors, the future of O'Neill golf looks bright.

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