Union golfers (l-r) Brock Bergmerier, Coy Mehlert, and Henry Hegdahl pictured with their All-Tournament medals on Monday, May 5, in Conrad during the BCLUW Comet Invitational. PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN SLATER

LA PORTE CITY – Last week was loaded with meets and the Union boys golf team competed in four of them.

On Monday, May 5, both the Knights boys and girls participated in BCLUW’s Comet Invitational with the boys playing in Conrad and the girls competing in Union. The boys had a strong showing behind junior Brock Bergmerier who shot an 80, followed by junior Henry Hegdahl who was one stroke back at 81 and sophomore Coy Mehelrt carded an 82. All three earned All-Tournament Honors. Freshman Nash Schmitz was one stroke away from making the squad with an 84. The team’s total score of 327 was our lowest in three seasons and good enough to earn us third place behind Roland-Story (318) and host BCLUW at 319.

Union’s girls placed fifth and were led by senior Amelia Schmitz who shot a 97 and ended up seventh place overall, also earning All-Tournament honors.

The next day, Tuesday, May 6, both teams hosted Grundy Center and Dike-New Hartford in a triangular. Grundy Center had not visited the La Porte City course in nearly 20 years, so this was a much anticipated event.

Spartan junior Judd Jirvosky started quickly with two opening birdies but cooled off some down the stretch to shoot even par but still good enough to earn medalist honors. Jirvosky is an extremely accomplished player holding the state record for lowest tournament scoring, so it was a treat to see him make it around our unique layout and some of the challenges it presents. Seeri Smith of DNH led the girls scoring with a 43.

Team Totals

Boys: Grundy Center 151, Union 164, DNH 168

Girls: Grundy Center 199, DNH 214, Union 223

On Thursday, May 8, the Knights boys participated in the NICL Conference Boys Golf Tournament at Pheasant Ridge in Cedar Falls. Our goal was to finish fifth and get someone on the All-Conference Team for the first time since 2022. Unfortunately we struggled to get anything going which resulted in a ninth place finish for the team. Grundy Center won the meet by shooting an impressive total of 299 and were led by meet medalist Judd Jirvosky who shot an impressive 69. Beeny Waller was runner-up medalist with a 71 edging out Cody Weaver of East Marshall on the cardback.

On Friday, May 9, the boys hosted Independence at LPCC to end a busy week. Independence is a strong 3A squad and was able to post the same score of 151 against us as Grundy Center did earlier in the week. We started off slow but brought in a respectable score of 166 with senior Tyler Gates just missing out on a medal with a 38.