Trojans eye conference meet after third-place result at Chariton Invite

CHARITON ? The ninth-ranked Fairfield golf team has set a precedent for themselves so far this year ? so much so that a third-place finish out of eight teams seems to be a bit of a disappointment to the six golfers.

Third-place is where they found themselves after Saturday?s Chariton Invite behind two strong teams in Albia and Pella. Pella will also be one of the teams awaiting Fairfield at the sectional meet coming up in less than two weeks. Albia finished with a score of 321 followed by 326 from Pella and Fairfield?s 334.

After shooting some of the best rounds of his career last week, Fairfield No. 1 Kyle Menke had one of his worst days in 2009 and carded a 91 on the day. While Menke cleared his system, Cody Kool was able to continue his hot streak and shot the second-lowest score of the day with a 78. Kevin Wynn of Albia and Brendan Hockins of Centerville came out one stroke ahead of Kool with a 77 to tie for meet medalist honors. Kool was ?very steady? according to head coach Mick Flattery and earned that praise with identical rounds of 39 on both the front and back nine.

Davis Lowenberg and Derek Byrnes came in next for Fairfield with scores of 82 and 83, respectively. The duo each put two birdies on the scorecard and placed in the top-10 individually.

Menke and Jordan Leazer both entered the clubhouse with scores of 91 to complete the team score. Colton Fry played even par on the par-3 holes and finished the day with a 95. Fairfield finished ahead of Centerville (340), Knoxville (361), Creston (382), Chariton (382) and Clarke (393) in the team standings.

With the Chariton Invite in the history books, the Trojans now have bigger fish to fry ? namely the Southeast Conference Meet set to commence Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. Fairfield will be joined by familiar foes Washington and Mount Pleasant ? two incredible challengers for the conference title.

For complete story, read the Monday, May 11, 2009 Fairfield Ledger.