Teams from the eastern half of Iowa and beyond converged on Pleasant Valley Golf Course in Iowa City Monday for the Class 1A district tournment with team and individual state tournament bids on the line. Hillcrest Academy will see the maroon and black in Ames this year as the Raven’s Jace Rempel highlighted area competitors by taking one of those state bids, firing a district runner-up round of 84, one shot behind district champion Ryan Stiles of Earlham with an 83. After clinching the bid, Rempel, and his coach Phil Schintler talked about the day. Rempel said, “Hole 15 was big, I put a shot from 200 yards pretty close for birdie. All I could think of when I saw the scores was on to state! Nothing else but that!”

Schintler said, “Today was just like what I have seen from Jace all year. Consistency. Hitting the ball well. Putting the ball well. Chipping the ball well. Today all of that paid off. We were paying attention on the leaderboard and he was sitting second. We were just hoping that no one would squeak in ahead of him. Never know until the end.”

As a team, Hillcrest missed a group bid, finishing in fifth of 11 schools with their round of 381 that also included Luke Schrock 91, Liam Schrock 93, Josiah Beachy 113 and Alex Niemeyer 122. Top area team finish went to Keota, with the Eagles missing state by just three strokes at 376. Keota scores included Sawyer Stout 91, Caden Sprouse 93, Billie Kindred 94, Colten Clarahan 98, Cole Kindred 107 and Evan Vittetoe 111. Sigourney was 10th of 11 schools in the fray Monday, shooting a team score of 433. The Savages were paced by Clay Morse at 95 along with Cain Weber 107, Isaac Bruns 109, Cole McKay 122 and Brady Clark 130. Highland was 11th on the team side with the Huskies posting a 442 score. Chase Schultz turned in the top card for Highland with a 106. Other Huskies included Peyton Yeggy and Colton Sypherd 109, Luke Miller 118, Kaige Vonnahme 122 and Trevor McFarland 130. The Class 1A state tournament is May 23rd and 24th at the Ames Golf and Country Club.