Kalida’s Connor Nartker watches his shot during Wednesday’s Wildcat Invitational at Moose Landing Country Club.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
OTTAWA — Ottoville and Bath finished second and third respectively behind team champ Ottawa Hills at Wednesday’s Kalida Wildcat Invitational at par 72 at Moose Landing Country Club.
Ottawa Hills finished with a 303 total. Ottoville posted a 329 and Bath finished with a 336.
The top performer for Ottoville was Michael Turnwald who came in sixth individually with a 77 for a spot on the All-Tournament Team, winning a scorecard playoff.
Ottoville Head Golf Coach Keith Utendorf was proud of his team’s success early in the season.
“We’ve done some really good things. We’ve had some guys really step up.”
A big part of the success, according to Utendorf, is seniors Turnwald, Keaton Schnipke and Jace Langhals leading the way.
“They’ve got a lot of experience; I’d like to see how they kind of change their mentality and started putting some rounds together. It’s not our best early in the season, which I think is a good thing, We just need to continue to improve, and we got to make sure we are ready to go because the next seven days. We have a lot of golf in front of us. I’m just proud of our guys for coming back, this is a very difficult course, it’s a special place. (Putnam County League) will be here later on in the year so it’s a very important one for us to kind of set a tone, so I’m happy with our guys performed one through five.” Turnwald shot a 91 at NorthStar on Tuesday. Utendorf was happy he saw that was a fluke, and he bounced back so well Wednesday, along with the rest of the team, as the Big Green have been improving early in the season.
“Keaton shot an 82 and a 79 the last two days as our one man, then our freshman Evan Altenburger has been playing pretty well … if we can take a few strokes off some of our guys’ rounds, I’ll think we’’ll feel pretty good about where we’re at.”
Bath finished with four of five golfers shooting in the 80s. The top performer for the Wildcats was to Ezra Bolon with an 82. He credits his team for getting this far.
“We put in a lot of hard work. We’re really excited for league play because we’re pretty positive we can go far this year with a very consistent team like we have.”
He knows his mentality early in the season will help him during league play.
“It just gives you confidence going into these matches, you know you can score this.”
Bath head coach Sean Boley is glad his team performed well Wednesday and looks to continue doing so as they head into WBL play and more.
“Being consistent is the main thing we have been preaching all year, and you never know who is going to come in with the low score, and today it was Ezra Bolon, our five man, so I’m grateful he was able to do that.”
When league play starts, Boley said it’s going to be about “mentality of managing the course and not having a large score of a specific hole. When we look at the top teams, I feel like we are there.”
Fourth place went to Coldwater with a 337 total with four of the Cavaliers’ five golfers shooting in the 80s. The lowest scoring Cavalier was Ben Giere with an 82.
Tying Bryan for fifth place was Ottawa-Glandorf Titans at 339. The Titans were led by Tyler Heckman, who shot an 82. All five O-G golfers shot in the 80s.
Bryan’s Noah Huard was medalist with a 72. Kalida’s Connor Nartker finished third with a 74 to make the all-tournament team.
Lima Central Catholic’s Parker Judy (77), Delphos Jefferson’s Isaac Gallmeier (68), Miller City’s Gavin Vennekotter (80), Van Wert’s Sam Houg (81), Pandora-Gilboa’s Aiden Harris (82), Shawnee’s Mathew Stiles (83), Allen East’s Levi Clum (85) and Elida’s Griffin Burton (104) had the low rounds for their respective schools.
Scores
Wildcat Invitational
at Moose Landing Country Club (par 72)
Team Scores: Ottawa Hills 303, Ottoville 329, Bath 336, Coldwater 337, Ottawa Glandorf and Bryan 339 each, Napoleon 340, Miller City 341, Kalida 342, Van Wert 344, Arlington 346, Pettisville 349, Shawnee 351, Berea Midpark 363, Delphos Jefferson 364, Pandora-Gilboa 366, Defiance 372 Tinora 375, Paulding 389, Ayersville 390, Allen East 391, Elida 423, LCC no team score
Medalist: Noah Huard (Bryan) 72
Area individual scores used for team totals
Allen East: Levi Clum 85, Jalen Johnson 94, Donovan Kennedy 99, Hunter Williams 113
Bath: Ezra Bolon 82, Connor Raines 83, Ethan Clayton 85, Brayden Binkley 86
Coldwater: Ben Giere 82, Tyler Overman 83, Braxton Howell 84, Oliver Vickery 88
Elida: Griffin Burton 104, Ryan Sheidler 104, Aiden Musil 106, Ayden Bailey 109
Kalida: Connor Nartker 74, Jack Stechschulte 82, Tucker Anspach 92, Carson Buss 94
Delphos Jefferson: Isaac Gallmeier 78, Brady DuVall 90, Troy Pseekos 91, Mason Wiltsie 105
LCC (no team score): Parker Judy 77, Austin Craig 98, Nick Nieman 118
Miller City: Gavin Vennekotter 80, Will Otto 84, Jude Otto 88, Andrew Weis 89
Ottoville: Michael Turnwald 77, Evan Altenburger 80, Keaton Schnipke 82, Jace Langhals 90
Van Wert: Sam Houg 81, Keaton Foster 84, Griff McCracken 85, Brock Stoller 94
Ottawa-Glandorf: Tyler Heckman 82, Ty Verhoff 85, Jace Van Oss 86, Justin Yaeger 86, Grant Leopold 86
Pandora-Gilboa: Aiden Harris 82, Owen Huffman 85, Zach Neuenschwander 90, Anna Parkins 109
Shawnee: Mathew Stiles 83, Seth Grieshop 85, Evan Jackson 87, Mathew Owen 96
Justin Dierkes wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
