The Knoxville Boys Golf Squad ventured to Cedar Rapids for a quad against Solon, Waverly-Shell Rock and defending state champion Gilbert on Tuesday. The Panthers finished 4th with a 339 and Evan Smith led the Knoxville scores with a 77 while Beau Leisure scored an 84 and Carson Uitermarkt also carded an 84. Coach Barry Smith told KNIA/KRLS Sports it was a good experience to play against three of the top teams in class 3A and a course they have never seen. Evan Smith says there is a big target on the backs of Knoxville this season after making a State Meet run last year, but that is a part of being a team with high expectations.

Smith :We’re playing with guys that we’re not playing with regularly, and they’re better than the average golfer and that does put pressure on us, but we play those teams and it just gets us ready to make another state run and we just have to give it a go.”

The Panthers turn their sights toward the money meets with the conference tournament on Monday and the sectional next Wednesday. Hear an interview with Smith, Leisure and Uitermarkt on this week’s Radio Sports Page tonight at 6:00 and Thursday at 10:00 on KNIA/KRLS. On the Pitch at Randy Wilson Track, Knoxville took a double victory as the girls defeated Centerville 1-0 and the boys rolled to a 4-0 win. In the girls match, both teams played to a stalemate on the scoreboard for the first 65:00 until Taylor Jones found the back of the net with 15:40 remaining. Abby Wadle had another shut out to her line this season. In the boys match, Knoxville controlled the match from the outset and put it away the final 15:00 of the 1st half with all four goals before halftime. Andrew Jackson, Luka DeJong, Tyler Kearney, and Colton DeJong all scored for the Panthers. The South Central Conference girls tennis meet was supposed to have been played in Knoxville on Tuesday, but rain forced that event to be postponed to today at the Joel Tonda Tennis Courts.