C-M’s Underwood wins medalist at SICL golf tournament

GRINNELL — Colfax-Mingo junior Delaney Underwood is not intimidating on the surface. The Tigerhawk who always has a smile on her face barely stands 5-feet tall.

But at Oakland Acres Golf Club on Monday afternoon, Underwood stood the tallest.

Underwood claimed her first South Iowa Cedar League individual championship after shooting a 40 on her final nine holes. She was five shots better than anyone else and that led the Tigerhawks to a third-place finish in the team standings.

“It felt really good to win today,” Underwood said. “You can tell that the work I put in in the offseason is paying off. I knew I had to play well today. Iowa Valley has some really good golfers. They are good competition for me. I knew it would be tough.”

Iowa Valley swept the team races. The Tiger girls took the next three spots after Underwood and shot a 372. English Valleys was the runner-up with a 404, and Colfax-Mingo shot a 415 in third.

“I am extremely proud of our girls today,” Colfax-Mingo coach Nick Noring said. “They all performed well and represented our school and community as first class student athletes.

“It was a very special day for our Delaney Underwood. She had a couple of obstacles thrown at her today, but she was mentally tough and closed this one out. That was very rewarding.”

Lynnville-Sully finished eighth in the eight-team field with a 529. Junior Tessa Van Maanen finished fifth overall with a 95.

On the boys’ side, Colfax-Mingo junior Ahren Teed was sixth overall with an 85. But the Tigerhawks were sixth in the team standings, and Lynnville-Sully finished 10th in the 10-team field.

Iowa Valley’s boys won with a 339. Breven Platt was the runner-up medalist with an 83.

Sigourney was the runner-up with a 346. The Savages had the medalist though as Dustin Haines shot a 74 on the par 69 course. Colfax-Mingo shot a 384 and Lynnville-Sully turned in a 448.

Underwood was the SICL runner-up last year. She lost to Iowa Valley’s Caleigh Smith by four strokes. This year, Smith was the runner-up, and Underwood was five shots better.

“I am feeling really good about my game right now,” said Underwood, who plans to play in the junior LPGA this summer. “I could have putted and chipped better today. The big greens were tough. That the biggest thing I need to work on.”

Smith shot a 90 in second. Her sister Taylor Smith shot a 92 in third and their teammate Kyla Gehring had a 93 in fourth.

After Van Maanen’s 95, English Valleys’ Brooke Davis had a 97 in sixth.

Colfax-Mingo’s other three counting scores came from junior Chelsea Russell, sophomore Sydni Hostetter and senior Jessica Zahn, who finished with a 106, 111 and 113, respectively. Sophomore Brielle Reed and junior Camilla Schlosser finished with non-counting scores of 117 and 129, respectively.

For the Hawks, Van Maanen’s 95 led the way. Junior Kayla Van Dyke shot a 137, senior Hailey Scandridge carded a 141 and junior Madeline Mintel finished with a 156.

“(Tessa) played very constant each hole ranging between four and six on each with one seven the whole round,” L-S co-head coach Jennifer Kramer said. “The other girls struggled and had some holes with double digits.”

The Keota boys did not have enough golfers for a team score, but Luke Hammen and Jake Eakins finished third and fourth, respectively, with 84s. Iowa Valley’s Parker Wieck shot an 84, too.

Teed was three shots better on the back nine (41) than he was on the front (44). He won a cardback with two other golfers to place sixth.

Junior Skyler Aikin shot a 96, freshman Jason Rhinehart carded a 100 and sophomore Brady Berkey and junior Nic Duffy both had 103s as the final counting scores. Senior Jake Dunsbergen had a non-counting 111.

“This was hands down one of our best tournaments of the year for the boys,” Noring said. “These boys have worked hard all year to strive to get back the rich tradition that the Colfax-Mingo boys’ golf program has always had. We are heading back in that direction.”

For Lynnville-Sully, senior Holden Jansen carded a 97 to lead the Hawks. Junior Abram Collins shot a 104, sophomore Logan Ingersoll had a 113 and junior Cade Dibello shot a 134 as the counting scorers. Freshman Luke Kramer had a non-counting 137.

Colfax-Mingo’s boys play in a Class 2A sectional at 9 a.m. Friday in Pleasantville. The L-S boys play at 4 p.m. Tuesday at North Mahaska.

The C-M girls host their annual tournament at 4 p.m. Friday in Colfax. The Hawk’ next tournament is the 1A regional tournament on Monday in Union.