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NORTH PLATTE - The Hartington-Newcastle golf team improved 24 strokes from day one to day two here at the Lake Maloney Golf Club May 21 and 22 in the Nebraska Class D Golf Championships.
It was the Wildcats third trip to state in the past four years,qualifying last year and back in 2021.
“We got off to a better start on Wednesday,” HNS co-head coach Mike Johnson said. “The kids played really well all day”.
“Carter (Kelly) shot his lowest round of his career Wednesday,Riley (Sudbeck) and Dayton had really good days as well, Austin (Sudbeck) had his lowest nine-hole score on his first nine Wednesday and Barrett (Bruning) was solid both days.”
The Class D tournament managed to get in both days after a two-hour delay on the opening day of competition.
The Wildcats opened the tournament with team total of 379 on a toughday on the course. “Day one was a tough day with a two-hour rain delay in the morning,” Johnson said. “But Barret Bruning had his career low on Tuesday.He played really solid all day long for us.I thought our kids battled hard all day.”
Bruning led Hartington-Newcastle on day one, carding his personal-best of 88 followed by Riley Sudbeck with a 91, Dayton Sudbeck fired a 94 and Kelly shot a 106 for the 379 total.
On day two, Kelly and Riley Sudbeck each shot an 85,Dayton Sudbeck an 88 and Bruning shot a 97 for a 355 total to give the Wildcats their final score of 734.
Overton won the team title with a two-day total of 655, 11 strokes better than Hitchcock County at 666. Sutton was third with a 674 and the District D-2 Champion,Humphrey St. Francis ended up fourth at 686.
Jake Dane of Sandy Creek was the individual champion after firing a 150, a shot in front of Jack Baker from Hitchcock County.
Tyson Essex, the first round leader after shooting par with a 72,finished in a tie with Baker for second after shooting a 79 in round two.Alexander Banzhaf of Overton was fourth at 153.
As the dust settled on the 2024 campaign for the Wildcats,Johnson was reminiscing about his team and the season.
Riley and Dayton had solid careers for us and Carter,Barrett and Austin improved quite a bit this year,” the coach said. “The three returners will hopefully play a lot of golf this summer.”
He also wanted to thank some local supporters for their involvement in making the season and district a success for the team.
“I think sometimes we take our local course for granted,” Johnson said. “We hosted the district and a big thanks goes out to Jamy McCoy and his staff for getting the course ready, it was in great shape. Another big thanks goes out to Keith Holm and Kathy Rosen foreverything they did in the clubhouse during the tournament.I would also like to thank AJJohnson, Corey Uldrich, Rusty Fuller and all of the volunteers that helped keep score. Without all of their help, the tournament wouldn’t have ran as smooth as it did.”
2024 NEBRASKA CLASS D STATE GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS Lake Maloney Golf Club, North Platte, May 21-22 Team Results (36 holes)
1. Overton (336/319) 655; 2. Hitchcock County (339/327) 666; 3. Sutton (346/328) 674; 4. Humphrey St. Francis (354/332) 686; 5. Loomis (341/354) 695; 6. Lawrence-Nelson (355/342) 697; 7. North Platte St. Patrick’s (372/338) 710; T8. Hemingford (351/362) 713; T8. Neligh-Oakdale (356/357) 713; 10. Bloomfield (369/349) 718; 11. Kimball (364/365) 729; 12. Anselmo-Merna (373/359) 732; 13. Hartington-Newcastle (379/355) 734; 14. South Loup (Callaway/Arnold) (387/352) 739;15. Ravenna (377/369) 746.
Individual Results (Top 15 and HNS Individuals Scores)
1. Jake Dane (Sandy Creek), 12, (76/74) 150; T2. Jack Baker (HC), 10, (77/74) 151; T2. Tyson Essex (LOO), 11, (72/79) 151; 4. Alexander Banzhaf (OVT), 12, (78/75) 153; T5. Braden Fleischman (OVT), 12, (77/78) 155; T5. Kamden Bose (Southern Valley), 12, (77/78) 155; T7. Kyler Lusche (KIM), 11, (80/76) 156; T7. Aaron Bartak (A-M), 12, (79/77) 156; T7. William Jesse (Chambers/Wheeler Central), 11, (74/82) 156; 10. Brady Haake (Sandhills-Thedford), 11, (80/78) 158; T11. Jaydn Friesen (SUT), 11, (87/72) 159; T11. Andrew Kosch (HSF), 11, (82/77) 159; T11. Easton Miller (Elmwood-Murdock), 12, (78/81) 159; T14. Brayden Melchert (HC), 10, (83/78) 161; T14. Colin Cooksley (A-M), 12, (81/80) 161; T37. Riley Sudbeck (H-N), 12, (91/85) 176; T52. Dayton Sudbeck (H-N), 12, (94/88) 182; T62. Barrett Bruning (H-N), 11, (88/97) 185; T73. Carter Kelly (H-N), 10, (106/85) 191; 96.Austin Sudbeck (H-N), 9, (122/108) 230.
