Wetrich finishes eighth

at state golf tournament

COURIER SPORTS STAFF

DAVENPORT — Senior

golf standout Micael Wetrich

finished eighth overall

this past weekend at the

Class 4A State Golf Meet at

Davenport Country Club.

Blake Waller of Dowling

Catholic finished in first

place with a 145. Ian Vandersee

of Valley West Des

Moines and Dan Worley of

Cedar Rapids Kennedy

rounded up the top three

finishers.

After tying with six people

for fourth place on Friday,

Wetrich shot an 80 on

day two which brought his

overall score to 155.

Ottumwa golf coach

Mike Cardin said, “The

second day wasn’t what we

were hoping for, but

Michael played better the

score shows.”

It was holes 5, 10 and 18

that set Wetrich back. He

double-bogeyed holes five

and 10.

“It snowed really on

through the first five holes

so it wasn’t the best conditions

to play golf in,” said

Cardin.

Wetrich was able to

keep his focus through

holes 11 to 18. On holes 13,

14, and 15 Wetrich was able

to hit par, even setting himself

up for birdies on each

hole.

“Michael executed the

game plan really well, the

ball just didn’t seem to

want to fall,” said Cardin.

It was hole 18 that hurt

Wetrich the most. At the

time he was playing the

hole the wind was working

against him, which is never

good when teeing off a hole

with a small green surrounded

by a creek. Wetrich’s

drive cleared the

creek but took an awkward

bounce back into the

green’s hazard. He went on

to triple bogey the hole and

end with a second day

score of 80.

“He tried hard, he kept

his focus.” said Cardin.

Finishing in eighth place

isn’t anything to scoff at.

Wetrich was able to beat

out 70 other state 4A

golfers over the weekend.

Wetrich had a hard time

adjusting to golf on his own

as the rest of his Ottumwa

Bulldog linksters weren’t

able to accompany him at

the tournament.

“It was definitely hard

for him not having his

teammates around,” said

Cardin.

Dowling Catholic of

won the meet with an overall

score of 614. Valley West

of Des Moines finished second

as a team, tallying a

score of 623, barely edging

out third-place finisher

Southeast Polk (624.)

2009 Class 4A State Golf Meet

At Davenport Country Club

Oct. 9-10, 2009

Team scoring — Dowling Catholic 614;

Valley 623; Southeast Polk 624; Cedar

Rapids Kennedy 630; Waukee 639; Linn-

Mar 652; Waterloo 657; Ames 663; Iowa

City 675; Wahlert Dubuque 675; Pleasant

Valley 679.

Top Ten — Blake Waller 145 (Dowling

Catholic); Ian Vandersee 145 (Valley);

Dane Worley 149(CR Kennedy); Collin

Foster 149 (Waukee); Jake Stapp 152 (SE

Polk); Zach Steffen 154 (DM Lincoln);

Matt Leiffert 154 (SE Polk); Michael Wetrich

155 (Ottumwa); Max Court 155 (Valley);

Blake Huser 157(SE Polk).