Mid-Prairie’s Schlabaugh 7th at state

MARSHALLTOWN - Weather has had a major impact on high school sporting events this year and the Class 2A Boys State Golf Meet at the American Legion Memorial Golf Course in Marshalltown last week was no exception.

After play on Thursday started late because of rain, Friday's round was canceled and scores from Thursday were declared final.

Noah Schlabaugh represented himself, his team and Mid-Prairie well, finishing in a tie for sixth.

At the state meet, the top seven individuals receive a medal. Since he was tied, they had to break the tie to determine the sixth- and seventh-place medals using a card back system. They would compare their scores on the hardest hole and the lower score would get sixth. They tied on the hardest hole and moved on to the next hardest hole until the tie was broken. They had to go back six holes before Schlabaugh lost the tiebreaker. Officially, Schlabaugh finished seventh individually. The top six individuals are All-Tournament First Team. Schlabaugh will be named Second Team All-State by the Iowa Golf Coaches Association later this month.

'We are all proud of Noah's efforts and accomplishments this season,” Mid-Prairie coach Kelby Bender said.

Schlabaugh and Bender walked the course to get some yardages and refresh ourselves with the layout Wednesday. Schlabaugh was able to do some chipping and putting on the practice green to get a feel for the greens.

'The course was in good shape even though they had eight inches of rain during the week leading up to the meet,” Bender said.

There were some wet spots and the par-4 10th hole had to be converted to a par3 so the course would play as a par 69 instead of 70.

'Noah was excited and ready to play Thursday,” Bender said.

He started on the 616-yard par-5 second hole, the hardest on the course.

'He played it ok but made a bogey as did most of the field,” Bender said.

Schlabaugh made bogey on the next hole, a 410-yard par 4. Then he settled in and made seven pars in a row on holes 4-10.

'Noah played steady all day,” Bender said. 'He was able to get of the tee well and if he didn't hit the green in regulation, he was able to get up and down and save par most of the time.”

He finished the back nine in 4-over 38 and had hole number one to play to finish the round. He ended his round with a bogey to finish the front at 3-over 38 for a total for 77. He made 11 pars on the day, second most in the field, and seven bogeys.

He finished Day 1 in that tie for sixth, looking forward to playing Friday morning as he was only five shots out of second.

After 3.5 inches of rain overnight, the 8 a.m. start time was postponed to 10 a.m.

'Once we got to the course we saw how saturated it was,” Bender said. 'The bunkers were full of water, most fairways had standing water and the ponds and creeks were out of their banks.'

Day 2 of the State Meet was canceled due to the unplayable conditions of the course.

'Noah has worked extremely hard on his game,” Bender said. 'The hard work paid off and he finished his season with a great round at the state meet.'

During the season, he was a meet medalist four times and a runner-up medalist three times, including a 74 at the district meet. He finished third at the River Valley Conference meet and was Elite All-Conference. His 9-hole average was 39.68 strokes with a low of 33. He averaged 79 strokes for 18-hole meets with a low of 74. He made 108 pars, nine birdies and one eagle during the season.