Hawks advance with runner-up tie at Tipton

TIPTON — The race, Central Lee boys golf coach Mike Ungerer knew, was going to be for second place at Wednesday’s Class 2A sectional meet at Tipton Country Club.
He was right.
As Ungerer expected, Tipton took advantage of playing on its home course and won the team title. Central Lee and Mediapolis tied for second, with the Bulldogs taking second place by virtue of the score of its sixth player.
All three schools advanced to Monday’s district meet at Heritage Oaks Golf and Country Club in Wapello, which is Mediapolis’ home course.
“Today our goal was just to move on, because we knew it was going to be us and Mediapolis for second place,” Ungerer said. “You’re not going to beat Tipton on their home course. So we wanted to come here and get to where we could advance.”
Tipton won the title with a 305. Central Lee and Mediapolis each finished with 318.
“I think we could have played better as a team,” said Central Lee’s Carter Jones, who tied for fourth with a 77, five strokes behind medalist Gavin Roth of Tipton. “I thought I had a pretty average day. We had some good rounds as a team.
“All of us have one club that if we can figure out how to hit it, we’re right there. For me, my driver was good for most of the day, but the bogeys and double bogeys I had were me missing with my driver. If I figured that out, I would have been right there in contention to win it.”
The Hawks had three players in the top seven in the individual standings — Jones, Carson Morrison (78) and Hayden Welch (79). Kaleb Larson and Kaden Swan each had 84s, and Mylan Lowenberg had an 88.

Ungerer knew his team was frustrated with its third-place finish in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference tournament last week.
“I think it was more of a mental thing last week,” Ungerer said. “Sometimes they put too much pressure on themselves, and it doesn’t take much to throw off a golf swing.”
“We got third last week and then again today, but I think today we feel like we played a lot better,” Jones said. “At least I did. I played awful in that tournament. Today I thought I played average, but I reset my mind from that tournament.”
Jones had three birdies on the day in cool, windy conditions.
“In the past, (wind) was a huge problem for me,” he said. “But over time, I’ve been able to adjust for the wind. Really, I don’t even think about it any more.”
Tipton’s Hunter Daisy was second with a 74. Max Griffin of Mediapolis was third with a 75.
Other teams advancing to the district from their respective sectionals were PCM, Iowa City Regina, Albia, Cascade, West Branch and Monticello.
“We’re going to have to get off to a good start on Monday, because there are going to be a lot of good teams, a lot of good golfers there,” Ungerer said.
“Really, it’s just about playing good golf,” Jones said. “We’ve got some really good teams in our district. But I know when we’re playing our game, just trusting in our shots and our swing, we can do it. We can play well.”