Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
This foursome of local golfers await their tee off on hole number 10 during play at the Panhandle Junior Golf Tournament held at the Four Winds Golf Course this past week. Standing is Izaac Reuter. Seated left to right are Jacob Walker, Dillon Wise, and Tristen Zitek. Wise and Zitek both shot one over par rounds of 73 to take the tie for first but Zitek then won a 2-hole playoff over Wise to take the top prize with Wise finishing runner-up.
Kimball's Payton Wise, won the girls grade 10-12 division at last week's Panhandle Junior Golf Tournament held at the Four Winds Golf Course. The 13 year old 8th grader moved up to the older girl's division and took top honors with her round of 94.
The 2017 Kimball High Boy's Golf Team had a record setting season, and you can expect more of the same for the next two years it would appear. The Longhorns had two tournaments cancelled due to bad weather, but swept through their season with eight wins, including capturing the championships of both the Western Trails and SPVA Conference Tournaments as well as the C-5 District and was just one place shy of going undefeated on the year, finishing runner-up at the State Tournament! Hard to ask for much more than this!
Along the way they set a new school team record in their win at Morrill when they shot 298. They won at Sutherland for the SPVA title with 308, won at Mitchell with 311, at District in Cambridge with 315, at Scottsbluff Country Club with 319, at Bridgeport with 322, at WTC Conference and Kimball Invite with 329. At the State Tournament held at Kearney at the Meadowlark Hills Course, they shot 324 both days.
To take so many top team honors, they had to have indivduals who were preforming at a high level and none higher than senior Jordan Greenwood who became Kimball High's first ever four-time state medalist. In his final season Jordan finished as an eight event medal winner winning the top spot in three tournaments and finishing the year with a tie for third place at the state meet. The talented young man who has written his name into the Kimball High record books was named to the Coaches All State Team, and more honors will come his way yet. He has accepted a scholarship to continue his golf at Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Nebraska.
Kimball has four returning varsity players coming back including junior Andrew McCloud, and sophomores Zane Anthony, Dillon Wise, and Izaac Reuter. Coach Chad Wise has other skilled players ready to step in and fill the void left by graduated Jordan Greenwood.
Zane Anthony was a medal winner in all nine tournaments, including a tie for 10th at the state tournament. He never took home the medalist title but finished in the number two spot five times. Dillon Wise also was a medal winner in all nine events including a tie for 15th place at the State Tournament. Dillon was a medalist at Bridgeport and finished third in four tournaments. Andrew McCloud really stepped up his game from his sophomore season to his junior year and was a six-time medal winner. Izaac Reuter, an all around athlete who excels in all the sports he is involved in, was a four-time medal winner and look for him to really step up his game in his final two seasons.
A tip of the golf cap to coach Chad Wise also for the direction he has taken the Kimball High Boy's Golf program, and as mentioned, it is going to be quite good for at least the next two years, and with his work with the junior program, hopefully well beyond that. Congrats going out to this year's team, and all of Western Nebraska salutes your accomplishments and looks forward to what you might achieve next year.