Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – With winds of 25 miles per hour throughout the day Tuesday wasn’t an ideal day for posting a low golf score.

Nobody bothered to tell that to Regina senior Mikey Takacs.

Takacs fired a one-under-par 71 to win the River Valley Conference title on a sunny and windy afternoon at Saddleback Golf Course in Solon.

“You just have to understand that the wind is there for everybody,” Takacs said. “It’s going to affect some shots in a negative way but it also makes half the holes a lot easier.”

Takacs started his round with a birdy and was two under through nine holes on his way to a career-low 71.

He finished three strokes in front of runner-up Nate Offerman of Dyersville Beckman to claim his first conference title while helping Regina to a fourth-place team finish at the 15-team meet.

“I think the biggest thing is he has experienced this type of environment before,” second-year Regina head coach Jason Urdahl said. “He’s been playing tournaments on the weekends and he’s seen conditions like this. His dad said to me earlier today that this is a little bit less wind than what they saw earlier in the year. He’s got a lot of mental toughness and when he locks in there is nobody better.”

Last season Takacs was sixth at the RVC meet with a 78.

On Tuesday Takacs never was above par, finishing with 10 pars and three birdies.

“I thought I hit the ball really well off the tee, the irons and wedges were a little shaky today but my putting was decent,” Takacs said. “All things considered I thought I played pretty well.”

Takacs started his round with a birdy on the par-four sixth and was even after seven holes.

He jump started his round with an eagle on the 519-yard, par-five 13^th.

A long drive up the right side of the fairway left Takacs less than 190 yards to the pin and he hit a 9 iron to within 10 feet.

“Nothing was really holding the green so I ended up landing my ball into an upslope in the rough about 40 yards short of the pin,” Takacs said. “It ended up rolling about 10 feet past the pin.”

Takacs hit the 10-footer for eagle and would never get over par again.

“At that point I was battling back and forth between even and one under so to get the eagle to get to two under gave me a little cushion,” Takacs said. “I was a little more comfortable playing with that cushion.”
Takacs had back-to-back bogies on holes number one and two but finished with three pars and a birdy on the par-five fifth.

“He made bogies on one and two and he was definitely not happy about those but he had four holes to finish this thing out and he did that,” Urdahl said.

The individual title from Takacs highlighted a strong day for Regina.

Sophomore Noah Clark shot an 82 to finish 15^th and earn honorable mention all-RVC honors as Regina placed fourth with a 337.

Steven Liu and Carter Slager each shot 92 for the Regals.

“I am very proud of Mikey but our guys two through six were awesome as well,” Urdahl said. “Fourth is a heck of an accomplishment for us.”

Dyersville Beckman had three players finish in the top five and four in the top seven while claiming the team title with a 306.

Tipton was runner-up with a 326 followed by West Liberty with a 319.

Three-time defending champion West Branch got a ninth-place finish from Will Bridges and finished seventh with a 344.

“To be the only 1A school here and to finish fourth is really impressive because there a lot of good teams here,” Urdahl said. “Tipton is really good, West Branch has been good for a long time, Beckman is clearly very good and we’ve seen West Liberty play really well this year so I am very proud of the way the whole team played today.”

River Valley Conference Meet

At Saddleback Ridge Golf Course

Team scores – 1. Dyersville Beckman 306; 2. Tipton 326; 3. West Liberty 329; 4. Regina 337; 5. Durant 341; 6. Camanche 343; 7. West Branch 344; 8. Monticello 345; 9. Cascade 350; 10. Mid-Prairie 354; 11. Northeast 361; 12. Wilton 361; 13. Maquoketa 363; 14. Bellevue 380; 15. Anamosa 393

Individual leaders – 1. Mikey Takacs (ICR) 37-34 – 71; 2. Nate Offerman (DB) 38-36 – 74; 3. Luke Harwick (DB) 37-38 – 75; 4. Ty Jones (WL) 38-39 – 77; 5. TJ Their (DB) 39-39 – 78; 6. Collier Rockow (DUR) 39-40 – 79; 7. Brady Bockenstedt (DB) 41-38 – 79; 8. Colin Cassady (WL) 39-41 – 80; 9. Will Bridges (WB) 39-42 – 81; 10. Ty Stutzel (TIP) 39-42 – 81; 11. Colin Nash (TIP) 42-39 – 81

Regina (337) – Mikey Takacs 37-34 – 71; Noah Clark 43-39 – 82; Steven Liu 48-44 – 92; Carter Slager 43-49 – 92; Beckham Daniel 48-45 – 93; Lincoln Dardis 51-52 – 103

West Branch (344) – Will Bridges 39-42 – 81; Bradyn Sexton 41-45 – 86; Cameron Gingerich 45-42 – 87; Paxton Tisinger 43-47 – 90; Reese Gingerich 49-48 – 97; Reece Druecker 47-50 – 97

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