WAUSA – The Wausa varsity golf team’s drive to make the 2024 Nebraska School Activities Association Boys Golf State Championships came to a stop on May 13 in Hartington.
The Vikings placed 10th out of 13 full teams with a score of 413 at the District D-2 Golf Meet on a beautiful spring day. Humphrey St. Francis topped the field with a 344, followed by Bloomfield, 352; Hartington-Newcastle, 368; Creighton, 370; Randolph, 371; Howells- Dodge, 371; Homer, 375; Wisner-Pilger, 408; and Plainview, 411.
“Weather was not an issue,” Wausa head coach Chris Haberer said of the outside conditions at the district tournament. “This is the nicest day we’ve had all year to play golf, that’s for sure.”
Individually, Wausa junior Jake Munter led the Vikings with a score of 96 for 23rd place, followed by sophomore Kayton Anderson, 101, 38th place; junior Brady Bloomquist, 105, 44th place; freshman Lincoln Thorell, 111, 52nd place; and junior Olivia Barta, 131, 67th place.
“It was a struggle,” Haberer said of how his team performed at the district tournament. “Nobody played very well unfortunately. We did improve on the back nine some, but we had a lot of nerves (the morning of the meet) and things just didn’t quite pan out as well as we would’ve liked.”
Before competing at the district tournament, Wausa finished up the regular season by playing on May 7 at the rescheduled Randolph Invitational and on May 8 at the Ponca Invitational.
The Vikings shot a score of 409 at the Ponca Invitational and placed seventh. Host Ponca won the meet with a 311, followed by Randolph, 366; Homer, 367; Bloomfield, 367; Tri County Northeast, 376; and Pender junior varsity, 398.
Individually, Munter led Wausa with a score of 93 for 22nd place, followed by Bloomquist, 101, 30th place; Thorell, 107, 35th place; Barta, 108, 36th place; and Anderson, 109, 38th place.
The Vikings shot a score of 385 at the Randolph Invitational and placed seventh. Individually, Munter led Wausa with a score of 81 for fourth place, followed by Bloomquist, 87, eighth place; Barta, 106, 33rd place; Thorell, 111, 39th place; and Anderson, 112, 40th place.
“We’re a young team and just looking forward to next year,” Haberer said, noting he will have many players back next season with experience. “Hopefully, we can get back to state next year.”
