ANKENY — For the second time in three years, Johnston is the Class 4A boys state golf champion.
The Dragons too charge by shooting under 300 over the first 18 holes on Monday and then fending off Wahlert Catholic, West Des Moines Valley and Pleasant Valley on the second day to win the 4A team title by five strokes.
“It was great,” said Johnston coach Carson Hattel. “The community really did a great job of coming out and supporting our guys. Same thing with last year (at Otter Creek in Ankeny) and then when it was over in Cedar Rapids at Elmcrest. Golf right now in the state of Iowa — schools across the state have tons of great individual and team golfers. It’s just great to see right now for the state of Iowa.”
Johnston was outstanding on Monday. The Dragons finished with a 298 to take a 3-stroke lead over Wahlert Catholic for first place.
Tuesday’s competition saw Johnston’s score fall back a bit. The Dragons carded a 309, but Wahlert also dropped, finishing with a 311.
Defending champion West Des Moines Valley and Pleasant Valley both made a run on day two. Each team finished with a 307 to tie for the best score on the day, but Valley had to settle for third with a 613 and Pleasant Valley fourth with a 614.
Johnston’s winning score over 36 holes was 607. Wahlert Catholic scored a 612.
Johnston ended up with three golfers in the top 20 individually. Andrew Johannsen placed second with an even-par score of 144, sophomore Lucas Laffoon earned a medal by placing sixth with a 150 and sophomore Henry Baker came in 15th with a 153.
Kolby Stanton was 49th with a 162, Garrett Cramer 58th with a 165, and Nicholas Parenza and Jayden Young combined to place 72nd after Parenza shot an 87 over 18 holes Monday and Young an 82 on Tuesday.
“We fought,” Hattel said. “Obviously we had our stretches where we struggled a little bit, but on the whole, we did a pretty good job of executing the game plan we had in place.”
Johannsen ended up second after losing a playoff to Cedar Falls’ Anthony Galvin.
Johannsen led after Monday with a 3-under-par score of 69. Galvin was in second with a 70.
Both golfers fell off a bit on Tuesday. Johannsen went 3-over-par with a 75 and Galvin did one stroke better with a 74 to tie the score and force the sudden-death playoff.
The playoff round started on the 18th hole. Galvin had a great chip shot onto the green to set up a short putt, but Johannsen had a great long putt followed by another clutch one that went into the hole to keep the score tied.
The second playoff hole was on Hole 9.
Galvin managed to drive the ball onto the fairway and then hit a shot that made it over the water and just on the edge of the green. Johannsen was not as fortunate, as his shot off the fairway went into the water.
That enabled Galvin to two-putt his way into the hole, and Johannsen was unable to keep pace to fall one stroke short.
“He’s a great team leader for us — one of the captains on the team,” Hattel said of Johannsen. “He’s one of the great individual golfers in the state of Iowa. Shout out to Anthony, a great young golfer too.”
Galvin said he felt the title was his after his strong shot over the water.
“Especially after seeing his shot go into the water and then going a little bit long,” Galvin said. “I knew I had to leg one up there kind of close and then just go and tap it in.”
He was all smiles when his final putt went in the hole.
“It was just awesome,” Galvin said. “I just let my game play, and it ended up working out.”
Class 4A boys state golf team scores (36 holes): 1. Johnston 298-309-617, 2. Wahlert Catholic 301-311-612, 3. Valley 306-307-613, 4. Pleasant Valley 307-307-614, 5. Cedar Falls 306-311-617, 6. (tie) North Scott 305-318-623, Waukee 308-315-623, 8. Ankeny 303-323-626, 9. Ankeny Centennial 310-319-629, 10. Dowling Catholic 321-323-644, 11. Indianola 332-319-651, 12. Cedar Rapids Prairie 322-331-653.
Class 4A individual medal winners (36 holes): 1. Anthony Galvin (Cedar Falls) 70-74-144*, 2. Andrew Johannsen (Johnston) 69-75-144, 3. Ty Potter (Southeast Polk) 73-73-146, 4. Aidan McGreen (Valley) 74-74-148, 5. Henry Thier (Wahlert Catholic) 79-70-149, 6. Lucas Laffoon (Johnston) 75-75-150, 7. Tyler Santi (Indianola) 75-75-150, 8. Ian Lantz (Waukee) 77-74-151.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Johnston wins 4A Iowa boys state golf team championship
