All six varsity participants placed in the top-9 in scoring, with senior Tate Carlson coming away with the top individual medal by shooting a 1-under-par 69 and sophomore Cole Davis finishing just behind him in second with an even 70.

As a team, MHS had a total score of 288, 20 strokes ahead of second-place finisher Ames’ 308. Rounding out the scoring on the day was sophomore Mason Reid with a 74, good enough for fifth place, and junior JD Pollard with a 75, putting him in seventh.

Last season, the Bobcats shot a team score of 279, led by two outstanding rounds by Davis and Nate Vance — who set the school record that day — but head coach Lucas Johnson said that wasn’t on the team’s mind heading into this year’s iteration of the Joe August.

“On our home course, we expect to do well and our guys want to play well,” Johnson said. “Last year we had a tremendous round here and we tried not to talk a whole lot about that because once you start comparing rounds it doesn’t go well. We didn’t talk about that except we wore the same color shirts we did last year, and that’s about as superstitious that we got.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown senior Tate Carlson rolls in a putt on the 11th green at Elmwood Country Club on Friday on his way to taking top honors as the first-place medalist in the Joe August Invite.

As for his thoughts on Carlson’s round, Johnson said his top golfer on Thursday probably had one of the best performances in a Bobcats uniform.

“Tate Carlson, his round was one of the best rounds of his career,” Johnson said. “Second time he’s been an invite medalist, he won at Mason City last year, so for him to win as a senior at Elmwood is a great accomplishment for him. I was really happy with the way his mental game turned around in the middle of the round, he started smiling and his body language started looking like somebody who was playing well.”

Carlson said it “felt great” to win his final Joe August Invitational as a Bobcat, and he was really propelled by a great hole on the par-5 13th to finish strong.

“I actually made an eagle on 13 and that’s what helped me finish off with some pars, I wasn’t feeling as confident before that eagle,” he said. “I hit a really good drive that went a long ways then hit an 8-iron within six feet and then I made it.”

Carlson wasn’t the only Bobcat to hit an eagle on the day, as Vance holed a chip shot on the 17th for his eagle, a nice way to put a bow on a round that started off rocky for the senior. Johnson said all the guys did a great job of working through rough starts, as no MHS golfer was under par through the first nine holes.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“Our guys did a great job of battling. Nate Vance had his worst nine of the year but comes back on the back nine stronger and goes 41-35 on the day,” Johnson said. “He only had three pars on the day but got an eagle on 17.”

Vance finished eighth individually in the tournament with his 76, while fellow senior Luke Appel finished ninth with a 77. Had the top two scores on the day from Carlson and Davis not scored and the back to from Vance and Appel counted, the Bobcats still would have won the team scoring by eight strokes.

In that hypothetical situation, Reid would have been the high MHS finisher, and Johnson said he couldn’t be prouder of the way his sophomore showed in their home invite.

“Mason Reid played outstanding, he actually finished 3-over on his last two holes, so he was playing outstanding golf throughout the whole day,” Johnson said. “I am really proud of him as a sophomore and his improvement throughout the year. That was the second time he’s shot 74 out here in a meet this year, he is a kid that played Elmwood all summer and you are seeing the benefits of that now during the fall.”

The next time Marshalltown faces off against multiple teams at Elmwood would be the last meet of the season, as the state tournament is set to be held on the Bobcats’ home course. With how they’ve performed so far at Elmwood this season, Johnson said he is confident in his guy’s ability there but they can’t get caught looking too far down the schedule just yet.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“We know we have to take it one meet at a time, we aren’t going to start thinking about October yet,” Johnson said. “Next week is a really busy week for us, we go Monday and Wednesday then on Friday we will play Johnston here in another dual because we have an extra playing date. Next week is busy then we start looking at Conference and Districts, but we are making sure we take it one meet at a time.”

Joe August Invitational

At Marshalltown

Elmwood Country Club, par 70

Team Standings — 1. Marshalltown 288, 2. Ames 308, 3. Marshalltown JV 310, 4. Indianola 312, 5. Des Moines Roosevelt 337, 6. Urbandale 339, 7. Ottumwa 340, 8. Mason City 343, 9. Southeast Polk 346, 10. Fort Dodge 365, 11. Newton 386, 12. Des Moines North 404, 13. Des Moines East 429.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Individual (top 10) — 1. Tate Carlson, MHS, 69; 2. Cole Davis, MHS, 70; 3. Ben Krapfl, IND, 71; 4. Connor Van Weelden, AMES, 72; 5. Mason Reid, MHS, 74; 6. Jake Marvelli, IND, 75; 7. JD Pollard, MHS, 75; 8. Nate Vance, MHS, 76; 9. Luke Appel, MHS, 77; 10. Ryan Cole, AMES, 77.

MARSHALLTOWN (288) — Carlson 69, Davis 70, Reid 74, Pollard 75, Vance 76, Appel 77.

AMES (308) — Van Weelden 72, Cole 77, Carter Clayberg 78, Sam Balsley 81, Ben Stewart 85, Nate Espeset 87.

MARSHALLTOWN JV (310) — Conner Beaty 76, Lucas Schneider 76, Tate Kuehner 78, Joe Dankbar 80, Keygan Hansen 81, Brent Johnson 87, Owen Chaloupek 93, Dawson Shipley 110.

INDIANOLA (311) — Krapfl 71, Marvelli 75, Jacob McGinnis 82, Grady Haynes 83, Jackson Bishop 83, Jake Trembly 83.

DM ROOSEVELT (337) — Burke Pitz 78, Cooper Crager 82, Owen O’Leary 88, Charlie Gaer 89, Danny Kramer 89, Blake Bartholomew 91.

URBANDALE (339) — Alec Reseland 80, Ethan Kellehals 85, Ben DeKruyf 87, Grant DeKruyf 87, Alex Thompson 90, Matt Richards 96.

OTTUMWA (340) — Steven Langland 79, Bron Bjerke 81, Joe Hammer 90, Noah Bjerke 90, Tyler Brown 96, Nick Batterson 127.

MASON CITY (343) — JJ Wickman 81, Brad Vaith 86, Evan Lynch 88, Pete Stadheim 88, Dylan Pedersen 92, Tanner Hanson 94.

SOUTHEAST POLK (346) — Mitchell Rice 78, Cole Cory 86, Quinn Miller 89, Lincoln Gillotti 93, Logan Barnes 93, Drake Reed 94.

FORT DODGE (365) — Bennet Plane 86, Hoo Won 86, Isaac Hage 93, Chris Hatton 100, Gavin Strain 122, Dylan Peterman 134.

NEWTON (386) — Colin McAnally 92, Nate VanZee 94, Damen Reynolds 98, Shaiden Simmons 102, Devon Young 113, Michael Hodnett 136.

DM NORTH (404) — Tyler Sochit 89, Brett Dobberke 97, Jordan McElfish 104, Ben Swift 114.

DM EAST (429) — RJ Channon 94, Jacob Cort 104, Joe Ramsey 110, Kevin Arguita 121.