It was not easy, but the Knoxville Boys Golf Squad cleared the first hurdle on their way to another State Meet appearance by winning the class 3A Sectional Monday at Creston. The Panthers won the meet shooting a 314, nine shots ahead of runner-up Ballard. Evan Smith was medalist with a 70. Carson Uitermarkt was 4th with a 79 and Noah Keefer was 5th shooting an 80. Other scores were, Brady Roozeboom was 14th with an 85, Luke Roozeboom finished 20th with an 88, and Urban Ziller was 34th with a 98. Knoxville advances to play at Atlantic, a course it would have played at two weeks ago but only got four holes in due to weather. The top two teams will advance to the State Meet.

The Knoxville Girls Golf Squad was in the mix for the South Central Conference title as the Panthers placed 3rd, just five shots off of Centerville’s 395 which won the meet. Individually, Faith Roozeboom became a three-time conference champion shooting and 83 and Caelie Smith was runner-up with an 89, both earned all conference. Coach Barry Smith tells KNIA/KRLS Sports the girls will return to Edmundson in Oskaloosa for the regional meet next week and he hopes after playing a competitive round, they know the course a little better.

Smith: “If I can give the girls an understanding on what to do on those holes, to salvage a stroke or two on certain holes. We got assigned to Oskaloosa and hopefully we can learn about what to do and when we do that, we’re a decent team.”

Knoxville will have one final tune up before the regional this Friday when they host a quad with Pella, Carlisle and Oskaloosa.

Boys Photo from Jill Roozeboom, girls photo from Knoxville Girls Golf Facebook