NELIGH — Paced by three golfers who finished among the top 15, the EPPJ Wolfpack golf team placed second Thursday at the NVC Golf Tournament.
Played at the Antelope Country Club in cool, windy conditions, West Holt captured the team championship with a 340 team score.
EPPJ finished second with a 384, two strokes ahead of third place North Central at 386. Other team scores were Clearwater/Orchard 388, Boyd County 398, Neligh-Oakdale 400, Ewing 407, CWC 439, Niobrara-Verdigre 543, Santee and Elkhorn Valley competed but did not figure in the team scoring.
Medalist at the tournament was Cameron Schumacher of West Holt who finished with an 82.
Freshman Chad Bode led the Wolfpack, shooting an 18-hole score of 89 to finish eighth. He had a front nine score of 43, then shot 46 on the back nine.
Teammate Kyle Heithoff shot a (48-42) 90 to finish ninth in the individual scoring. Also placing in the top 15 was Miles Schrage who was 13th with a (47-46) 93 on his scorecard.
Other Wolfpack varsity scores were Jack Borer (60-52) 112 and Regan Kerkman (62-60) 122.
“Our golfers put up a front nine that wasn’t our best, but was good enough to keep us in the running. We were tied for third, but only five strokes ahead of fifth place at the turn, and I knew we were going to have to golf a better back nine if we wanted a chance to medal as a team,” said Coach Jake Sladky.
“My top two golfers didn’t put up their best scores of the season, which was understandable considering the cold windy conditions of the morning, but our front nine was being held together by a personal best score from our #3 golfer, Miles Schrage.
“I knew that if those three could find a way to shoot lower scores on the back nine we would still have a chance to place in the top four. At the end of the day, Chad Bode and Kyle Heithoff shot well enough on the back to both place in the top 10. Which was of no surprise, those two have been playing solid golf all year. It was another personal best round from Miles Schrage as well as a personal best from Jack Borer that helped our team jump up into the runner up spot. I’m proud of the way our team was able to grind it out in another cold and windy tournament, and I look forward to being able to see them shoot even lower scores as the second half of the season continues,” Sladky said.
