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WAUSA — The Hartington-Newcastle golf team prepared for a busy week this week with a couple of invitationals last week, one at O’Neill and one at Rolling Hills Golf Course.
On April 26, the ‘Cats traveled to Rolling Hills Golf Club near Wausa for the Osmond Invitational where they ended up seventh in the 14-team field with a 371.
Ponca won the meet with a team total of 338, Wausa was second at 345 and Stuart was third after carding a 353.
“We played better in this meet compared to the O’Neill meet, but still threw some strokes away,” said HNS co-coach, Mike Johnson. “We need to continue to get better from 150 yards and in.”
Cedar Catholic’s Toby Heine won medalist honors after firing a 79 and winning a playoff with Landon Uthof of Ponca.
Kayne Gratzfeld shot the low round for the Wildcats with an 88, which put him in a five-way tie for 15th, but he ended up 18th.
Carter Kelly was next for Hartington-Newcastle with an 89, Austin Sudbeck came in with a 96, Barrett Bruning shot a 98 and Grady Lammers had a 121.
The ‘Cats were in O’Neill on April 24 and struggled with penalty strokes on the day.
“We got off to a slow start, but we thought the kids bounced back and played better on the back nine,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of penalty strokes. We have to find a way to keep the ball in play better and avoid having so many penalty strokes.”
Hartington-Newcastle finished with a score of 374 which put the Wildcats in 10th place.
O’Neill won the meet with a 316 followed by Ord with 344 and West Holt a shot back at 345.
The Eagles’ Logan Brabec posted the low round of the day with a 73 with four golfers six shots behind at 79.
Kelly shot the low round for HNS with an 88, Gratzfeld was at 90, Bruning at 92, Lammers at 103 and Sudbeck shot a 107.
Hartington-Newcastle was scheduled to host its own invitational on April 29 then host a triangular on May 1.
The Wildcats head to Pierce for an invitational on May 3 before going west to Summerland Golf Course for the Greater Northeast Activities Conference Meet on May 6.
Wildcats fifth in Laurel
The Hartington-Newcastle golf team traveled to CedarView Country Club April 17 to play in the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Invitational.
The Wildcats finished fifth after firing a team total of 367, Tekamah-Herman won the team trophy after posting a 330, Ponca was next at 336, Cedar Catholic third with 348 and Elkhorn Valley was fourth at 361.
Kayne Gratzfeld fired the low round for HNS, shooting an 83 over the 18-hole tournament which was good enough for the ninth-place medal.
Gratzfeld improved five shots on his second nine of the day after carding a 44 on the front side.
“I just made myself calm down and tried to just swing easy,” Gratzfeld said. “I was kind of pressing the first few holes but once I settled down, it got to be fun again.”
Teammate, Carter Kelly grabbed the final medal using an 88 to finish 15th in the tournament.
Brody Rogers of Tekamah-Herman shot the low round of the day with a 74, Ponca’s Jace Wahls was second with a 78.
Barrett Bruning was next for the Wildcats with a round of 93, Austin Sudbeck shot a 103 and Grady Lammers carded a 118.
“All-in-all it was a positive day,” said HNS coach, Ken Kneifl. “Each of our players battled some adversity from time to time throughout the day. Austin in particular suffered some bad luck. Kayne, Carter Austin and Grady all responded on the back nine and demonstrated the ability to simply grind. Barrett played a solid, consistent round for the most part.”
The Wildcats will travel to O’Neill for another tournament on April 24 and to Rolling Hills Golf Course on April 26.
“Our challenge moving forward is becoming more consistent especially in the short game,” said Kneifl. “These kids know how to compete and Coach Johnson and I know they will work, They are a fun group.”
