BURLINGTON– That grouping paid off.
All season long, Solon’s boys have managed to stay within a stroke or two of each other on the leaderboard.
It’s taken them all the way to the state golf meet.
The varsity Spartans captured the top spot at a Class 3A district meet hosted at Burlington’s Flint Hills Golf Course Thursday, May 20, and will tee off Thursday and Friday, May 27 and 28, at the Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown for a state title.
The district win was a close one.
Solon (328) edged Monticello (330) by two strokes in a nail-biter, although both qualified for the state meet.
Nobody else in the five–team field was close.
Mount Pleasant was a distant third with a team total of 360. Vinton-Shellsburg (366) was right behind, with Maquoketa at the back with a 390.
Monticello’s Justin Recker posted a 75 to lead all scores, and he had teammates not far off the pace in fifth, eighth and 11th.
But senior Stetson McIlravy took runner-up medalist honors with a 79 and freshman Jack McCarty was another stroke back at 80.
Frank Haege Jr. (84) and senior Lucas TePoel (85) went seventh and eighth for the Spartans, with sophomore Mac McCarty (90) and freshman Brennan Heesch (114) in the top 20 for insurance.