May 15, 2019 at 1:47 p.m.
Hodag golfers finish third at Bass Lake
Hodag golfers finish third at Bass Lake
The performance of 363 strokes was good enough for third place on the day, two strokes ahead of host school Antigo, which puts the Hodags in shouting distance of third place in the final GNC standings heading into today's conference finale in Eagle River.
Nick Twite led the way with an 82 for the Hodags on Tuesday, which included a front-nine 39. He finished seventh behind Mosinee's Stanford Swid, who took medalist honors with a 1-under round of 70, and all five of Lakeland's golfers, all of whom broke 80 on the day.
Nick Schiek was second on the team with a 92, followed by Devon Gaber with a 94. Kole Gechas shot 95 to round out the scoring.
"Nick (Schiek) putted really well," coach Adam Schmidt said. "He had 31 putts. He was doing really well and kept the ball in play. That was good. That allowed him to shoot 92. That was exciting for him.
"Devon shot 44 on the front, that was really good. That back nine was a little harder for him. Devon hit the ball really well. His tee shots and his fairway shots were really good today. He's definitely swinging a lot better."
Tuesday's round was also an important tune-up for the Hodags, who will return to Bass Lake next Tuesday for WIAA Division 1 regional play. Rhinelander has also backed out of the GNC 6-6-6 fun event on Friday to instead play a dual match against Antigo at Bass Lake to get one more look at the course prior to regionals.
"A lot of it's just playing the course," Schmidt said. "The kids are learning where they should hit their shots. We were watching some of these approach shots and the greens at Bass Lake aren't flat. They're undulating and crazy. It's really important, like on hole 16, there's a big ridge in the middle and you can see where you want to take real accurate aim depending on which side of the green the pin's on."
The GNC tournament wraps up today at Eagle River Golf Course. Lakeland has already locked up the conference title and will look to complete its second straight perfect conference season.
Lakeland's Kyle Bengtson, with a runner-up finish Tuesday, extended his lead in the individual conference standings to 5 1/2 points over Swid and teammate Kaeden Nomm, entering today's final round.
Twite sits sixth in the individual standings, 4 1/2 points behind Lakeland's Adam Lazaroff for fifth. The top five golfers in the standings following today's meet will earn first-team All-Great Northern Conference honors. Gechas remained tied for 13th in the league standings. Positions 11-15 in the standings receive honorable mention.
Rhinelander sits 1 1/2 points behind Antigo for third place in the team standings.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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