By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WAMEGO -- Washburn Rural senior golfer Cam Zimlich didn't get off to the best of starts in Thursday's Washburn Rural Great Plains Classic, carding a triple bogey on his very first hole of the tournament at Wamego Country Club.
But that was one of just a few missteps on the day as Zimlich tied for second individually with a 76 (third on a tiebreaker), leading the host Junior Blues to a second-place team finish with a four-man score of 312, just two strokes behind Manhattan.
Washburn Rural senior Cam Zimlich receives his third-place medal from Rural athletic director Charlie Nimz at Thursday's Great Plains Classic at Wamego Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I started on 18 and I hit it (out of bounds) and I ended up tripling right out of the gate,'' Zimlich said. "I kind of fought back and kept it even until hole 15 was my next bad hole and I made a double, but then 16's a Par 5 and I ended up eagling that one and that got me right back after that. It was kind of an up and down round out there.''
But fortunately for Zimlich, there were a lot more ups than downs.
"That's probably my best tournament round so I was really proud about that one,'' Zimlich said.
Now Zimlich just wants to build off Thursday's round moving forward.
"We'll see hard courses the rest of the season for sure but this is definitely one of them and this is something to build on and I'm happy with how I did and I think I'll be ready to keep it going, hopefully,'' Zimlich said.
Washburn Rural's Tadd Armstrong shot a 78 to tie for seventh place in Thursday's Great Plains Classic at Wamego County Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Tagan Monasmith shot a 78 to tie for seventh place in the Great Plains Classic at Wamego Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural, which was playing its second tournament of the season, also got 78s from Tadd Armstrong and Tagan Monasmith, who were part of a seven-player tie for seventh place.
Xoaquin Overbey added an 80, Brady Goeden an 84 and Hayden Glynn an 86 to round out Rural's six-player first team for Thursday's meet.
"I felt like we had some guys step up today, Cam Zimlich in particular,'' Washburn Rural coach Jared Goehring said. "He came back after not his best start in his opening round last week and then triple bogeyed his first hole today and battled back and played hs butt off to shoot three-over on his last 17 holes.
"The consistency was there (for the team), we've just got to continue to be better at the top, just get a little bit lower.''
Topeka High's Rich Helmbold was also part of the tie for seventh place with a 78 for the Trojans.
Washburn Rural also fielded a second six-member team, which posted a team score of 335, including a 79 from Michael Wilson, an 83 from Tanner Kasprzyk and an 84 from Higgins Hawks.
"That's the thing with our program is that we have 12 to 14 to 15 guys that are all kind of right there,'' Goehring said. "We just need to start seeing the separation to help identify who's on that top six and middle six going into postseason towards the end of the year.''
Washburn Rural Great Plains Classic
At Wamego Country Club
Team scores
Manhattan 310, Washburn Rural 312, Free State 319, Blue Valley Northwest 319, Mill Valley 327, Olathe West 329, Lawrence 332, Shawnee Mission South 332, Emporia 332, Shawnee Mission East 333, Washburn Rural Gray 335, Olathe South 337, St. Thomas Aquinas 339, Blue Valley West 340, Topeka High 352, Shawnee Heights 360.
Individual results
1. Cash Nelson, Free State, 72; 2. (tie) Andrew Fowler, Blue Valley Northwest; Cam Zimlich, Washburn Rural, Joe Honn, Blue Valley Northwest, 76; 5. (tie) Gage Hull, Manhattan and Tate Reid, Manhattan, 77; 7. (tie) Owen Kandt, Manhattan; Henry Coughlin, Shawnee Mission South; Tadd Armstrong, Washburn Rural; Tagan Monasmith, Wasburn Rural; Nolan Jacob, Emporia; Rich Helmbold, Topeka High, and Jackson Powers, Manhattan, 78.
Other Washburn Rural -- Xoaquin Overbey 80, Brady Goeden 84, Hayden Glynn 86.
Other Topeka High -- Caleb Cleverdon 87, Jase Pavlik 91, Jasec Holladay, Simon Everhart 96, Luke Budden 105.
Shawnee Heights -- Hayden Valdivia 87, Logan Hahn 89, Jensen Crawford 92, Zac Hohman 92, Jasec Holladay 95, Dylan Packard 110.
Topeka West -- Myles Alonzo 87, Harrison Lane 113.
Washburn Rural Gray -- Michael Wilson 79, Tanner Kasprzyk 83, Higgins Hawks 84, Ben Carter 89, Parker Noller 92, Peyton Goehring 101.
