T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - The BCLUW girls’ golf team poses with its fourth-place trophy after Friday’s final round at the Class 1A state meet at Cedar Pointe Golf Course in Boone. Pictured, from left, are head coach Stacy Simpson, assistant coach Lucas Halverson, Ainsley Geelhart, Brooklynn Backoff, Sydney Anderson, Lindsay Beeghly, Leah McEwen, Maggie Ward and assistant coach Lauren Anderson.

BOONE — The BCLUW girls golf team’s future is looking very bright.

The Comets placed fourth in this year’s Class 1A state tournament at Cedar Pointe Golf Course in Boone following the conclusion of the two-day tournament on Friday.

BCLUW posted a two-day total of 781, with a 389 on Thursday followed by a 392 on Friday.

That’s a big leap from last season’s ninth-place finish at the American Legion course in Marshalltown, both in placement and in taking 40 total strokes off the team score. It’s also the team’s best finish since finishing third in 2018.

“Our goal was to come in the top five,” BCLUW head coach Stacy Simpson said. “It was nice to be able to say that we were third after the first day. It’s a great course, all the competition was great, so we did a very good job for our girls, coming in with four girls that have been here once and two that are brand new. It’s been a great experience for our new girls.”

Brooklynn Backoff led the Comets with a two-day total of 187, adding a 99 to yesterday’s round of 88 and finishing 14th overall.

While the BCLUW senior felt her final round could have gone better, the team finish made her proud.

“This is the year that we’ve all improved the most,” Backoff said. “This was definitely our year to shine, and I’m hoping next year, the girls can do that as well.”

Backoff is the lone senior on the roster. Simpson said she overcame some struggles on the back nine and should walk off the 18th green with her head held high.

“It was up and down a little bit today, but she was strong enough that she was able to pull through,” Simpson said. “It wasn’t her best round, but it’s a great round for her to finish off with. And our improvement from last year to this year was huge — she was a great leader for us to accomplish that.”

Lindsay Beeghly scored a 189 two-day total, Sydney Anderson had a 198, Maggie Ward scored 213. Leah McEwen scored a 220, including a 101 on day 2 that counted for the fourth team score, and Ainsley Geelhart had a 285.

Backoff will look back fondly on the team meals and the yearly state prank the Comets played on Coach Simpson, whether it’s previous years’ pranks like plastic-wrapping his truck or his school office or this year’s prank, covering his hotel room door in sticky notes and playing “ding dong ditch”.

“This is a team I’m extremely close with,” Backoff said. “Golf is not an easy sport, but we all come together, we know how to pick each other up.”

For all the Comets that are able to return, it was another good year of absorbing knowledge and getting comfortable with the competition.

“It was good to do this one more time with our same team from last year,” Beeghly said. “We just took more advantage of that and made a big improvement from last year. We’re all hitting the ball better this year and I know we’ll put the work in this summer to get to this again.”

This level of improvement is now a standard to be strived toward with so many returners next year, Simpson said.

“We expect growth now,” Simpson said. “Will we see as much growth as last year? It’d be nice to see that. It’d be great to see the two, three, four girls come in five strokes better. And the key next year is consistency, being able to stay that way and knowing that we’ll have good days and bad days.”

CLASS 1A

At Boone

Cedar Pointe Golf Course, par 72

Team standings — 1. Grundy Center 351-355–706; 2. New London 364-365–729; 3. West Branch 393-378–771; 4. BCLUW 389-392–781; 5. Newell-Fonda 400-385–785; 6. Easton Valley 402-391–793; 7. Sidney 415-386–801; 8. Akron-Westfield 414-399–813; 9. Nashua-Plainfield 405-415–820; 10. Alta-Aurelia 434-436–870.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Abbie Lindeman, GC, 80-79–159; 2. Taylor Phillips, NL, 78-82–160; 3. Avery Lichter, Bishop Garrigan, 86-82–168; 4. Paige Franzen, N-P, 87-87–174; 5. Addison Brink, Riverside, 90-87–177; 6. Avery Dirks, GC, 89-89–178; 7. Kylie Powers, IKM-Manning, 89-90–179; 8. Brylee Hoeg, GC, 87-92–179; 9. Avery Dowling, Sidney, 92-89–181; 10. Claire Jarrett, WB, 92-91–183.

GRUNDY CENTER (706) — Lindeman 80-79–159, Dirks 89-89–178, Hoeg 87-92–179, Leah Larson 95-95–190, Isabelle Ruth 106-95–201, Avery Knutsen 109-110–219.

BCLUW (781) — Brooklynn Backoff 88-99–187, Lindsay Beeghly 94-95–189, Sydney Anderson 101-97–198, Maggie Ward 106-107–213, Leah McEwen 119-101–220, Ainsley Geelhart 147-138–285.