Newton girls bounce back against tough field at Toni Dickey Invitational

ANKENY — The Newton girls golf team got its first look at more than half of the mostly-Class 4A field during the Toni Dickey Invitational on Thursday.

And the Cardinals bounced back from their off performance at the first round of the conference tournament earlier in the week.

All four scoring golfers for Newton shot better than 100 and the Cardinals were sixth in the 12-team field at the par 71 Otter Creek Golf Course.

“The girls were able to rebound after Tuesday, and we took three scores under 100,” Newton head girls golf coach Nicole George said. “That helped us get a good team score, which I am thrilled about.

“We were also able to edge two of the conference teams we lost to so that also helped boost the girls’ confidence.”

The Cardinals and Dowling Catholic both shot 379, but Newton was sixth due to a better fifth score. Both teams trailed host Ankeny (378) by one stroke.

Ames won the tournament championship with a 314. The Little Cyclones’ top four golfers finished first, fourth, sixth and ninth.

Marshalltown was the runner-up with a 337. West Des Moines Valley (363) and Southeast Polk (373) were third and fourth, respectively, and the rest of the field featured Indianola (382), Dallas Center-Grimes (382), Ankeny Centennial (390), Clear Lake (401) and Des Moines East (473).

Macy Button of Ames was the meet medalist with a 74. She defeated Marshalltown’s Natalie Henson on a card back. Henson also shot 74.

Johana Cerna led the Cardinals with a career-best 90 and Evie Main (91) was one shot back. The other two scoring golfers were Addie Ratcliff (99) and Eva Pak (99) and Kalleigh Berndt (109) and Addie Hook (110) posted non-counting scores.

“I know the warm, sunny weather played a part in their moods, which led to better scores,” George said. “They were in good spirits all day and I appreciate that as a coach. It makes them more coachable as well. It was a long week full of golf, but we need to be ready to get back after it on Monday at the Lamson Invite at Willow Creek.”