Solon Gears Up for Postseason Push With Fourth-place Finish at WAMAC Super Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
SOLON – Solon was solid in its final round of the regular season on Monday.
Not great. Not its best but good.
Good enough to post a fourth-place finish at the WAMAC Super Meet Monday at Saddleback Ridge Golf Course in Solon.
The part of the day for the Spartans on Monday is they know they can be better.
“We know that we have the potential,” Solon junior Grant Gordon said. “We are playing good right now but if we keep getting better we will peak when we want to. The more we play the better we get.”
Solon carded a 311 on Monday to finish 21 strokes behind WAMAC champion Grinnell which edged Marion by five strokes for the team title.
Just three stokes separated third place Independence (309) from seventh-place West Delaware (312) on a crowded leaderboard.
Solon will see three of those teams, Marion, Williamsburg and Mount Vernon at its Class 3A sectional on Wednesday at Stone Creek Golf Course in Williamsburg.
The Spartans need a top-three finish at the eight-team sectional to advance in the postseason.
“We haven’t had a meet where we’ve put everything together,” Solon coach Adam Stahle said. “We did a lot of good things today but we know we can be better. We just need to take that little step and be a little more consistent.”
Solon struggled out of the gate at Monday’s WAMAC Super Meet.
After four holes the Spartans were 12th out of 12 teams.
The longer the day went the better the Spartans played.
Solons hopes to follow a similar formula with its season beginning on Wednesday.
“Our game is trending in the right direction but it still wasn’t our best today,” Solon sophomore Ryder Laing said. “We have better rounds to come I think.”
Laing led Solon on Monday shooting a two-over par 74 to finish eighth.
After a double bogey six on the par four first hole Laing played the rest of the round even par including an even par 36 on the back nine.
“I felt like for the most part it went pretty well,” Laing said. “I had a few bad holes but for the most part I was really happy. My putting was more dialed in as the round came to an end.”
Laing had three birdies on his round including one on the par-four 18th.
“We just need to be more focused. When you get into the playoffs every little mistake matters and it really comes down to who makes less of those mistakes,” Laing said. “We really have to focus on the little things.”
Gordon shot a six-over 78 to finish 19th for Solon while sophomore Kobe Ridout shot a 79 and Owen Heesch an 80 for Solon.
“Ryder has been very consistent and Grant started off really well this year and went through a little bit of a funk but he got things straightened out this weekend and it showed a little bit,” Stahle said. “I’ll be honest, I am happy with how everybody is playing.
Clear Creek Amana finished eighth with a 325 and was led by freshman Gage Steckly who shot a 77 to finish in 14th place.
Elijah Rath shot an 80 and Myles Howell fired an 83 for the Clippers.
Clear Creek Amana joins Solon at the 3A sectional in Williamsburg on Wednesday along with WAMAC foes Vinton-Shellsburg and Benton Community and ADM.
“As competitive as it is those one or two shots are going to be the difference,” Stahle said. “That one or two shot difference is what it can come down to so we need to avoid those big numbers and we will be fine.”
WAMAC Conference Super Meet
At Saddleback Ridge Golf Course
Team scores – 1. Grinnell 290; 2. Marion 295; 3. Independence 309; 4. Solon 311; 5. Mount Vernon 312; 6. Williamsburg 312; 7. West Delaware 312; 8. Clear Creek Amana 325; 9. South Tama 329; 10. Vinton-Shellsburg 333; 11. Center Point-Urbana 333; 12. Benton Community 343
Individual leaders – 1. Levi Jack (GRI) 67; 2. Grady Oleson (MAR) 68; 3. Colson Mersch (WD) 70; 4. Ayden Wobeter (ST) 70; 5. Lincoln Stensrud (GRI) 71; 6. Braiden Moore (BC) 72; 7. Dawson Fuelling (IND) 72; 8. Ryder Laing (SOL) 74; 9. Calvin Andresen (MAR) 74; 10. Asher Castenson (MAR) 74; 11. Tommy Rhomberg (MV) 74; 12. Cameron Gosselink (GRI) 75; 13. Brecken Fuelling (IND) 76; 14. Gage Steckly (CCA) 77; 15. Cooper Bott (WIL) 77; 16. Quincy Klinger (WIL) 77; 17. Drew Hart (GRI) 77; 18. Rogan Ackerman 78; 19. Grant Gordon (SOL) 78; 20. Noah Gosselink (GRI) 78
Solon (311) – Ryder Laing 74; Grant Gordon 78; Kobe Ridout 79; Owen Heesch 80; Tyler Greazel 81, Nick Stahle 82
Clear Creek Amana (325) – Gage Steckly 77; Elijah Rath 80; Myles Howell 83; Hayden Russell 85; Cameron Johnson 86; Boston Holt 88
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