MARSHALLTOWN — The statewide thunderstorms late Thursday and into the early morning hours of Friday forced the IHSAA to cancel the second day of all three spring golf state tournaments, freezing Thursday’s results in place and making those total final.
Perry received 2.36 inches of rain between midnight and 9 a.m. Friday, the second-highest total in Iowa. Marshalltown received 1.1 inches, but had received nearly four inches in the past seven days, and those conditions combined to make the American Legion course unplayable Friday, with water surrounding some greens and covering the fairway on at least two holes.
An initial two-hour delay was proposed Friday until it became clear there was no way to play. Officials in Marshalltown (the 2A site) conferred with the 3A tourney in Fort Dodge and the 1A site in Newton and found similar conditions prevailed there, leading the IHSAA to freeze all scores and end the tournament.
The decision gave Panorama junior Kolby Shackelford the state championship that had eluded him by a single stroke in Marshalltown last year after he placed ninth overall as a freshman.
Shackelford fired an even-par 34-35–69 to win by three strokes over West Branch freshman Dylan Countryman, who shot a 72. Des Moines Christian senior Nate Juffer was third at 73 and DMC freshman Jake Weissenburger fourth at 74, with Kuemper Catholic’s Corbin Bortelli fifth with a 75.
Panther head coach David Van Ahn was effusive in his praise of Shackelford, noting both his physical skills as well as his “calm approach” and “quiet but intense competitive nature.”
Shackelford joins Will Babcock as individual champions from Panorama. The team was fourth, continuing a recent run of excellence that includes state team titles in 2015 and 2016 and a third-place effort in 2017.
Sophomores Wyatt Appleseth (43-37–80) and Lucas Leiferman (45-40–85) were joined by senior Trey Cobb (43-44–87) in helping the team score a 321. Sophomore Ryan Klinge (48-41–89) and senior Dylan Douglass (48-45–93) also played for the Panthers.
“Our guys were eager and really wanted to play today, but it just wasn’t possible,” Van Ahn said. “I truly believe we were going to shoot a good round — our attitude overnight and in the morning was excellent, and we were ready to go. Trey and Dylan will be missed, but we have a great core group coming back next year and have several junior varsity kids ready to step up and help us, so we won’t be going anywhere.”
DMC’s 304 was declared the championship score, with West Branch second at 309 and Kuemper Catholic third at 309. Panorama, ranked seventh and the ninth-seed entering the tourney, was fourth as 321, a stroke clear of West Branch (322).
New Hampton was sixth at 325, Sioux Center seventh at 335 and Estherville-Lincoln Central eighth at 337 while LaPorte City Union was ninth at 339.
