Cedar Rapids Xavier sets boys’ golf program record to win Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet

Cedar Rapids Xavier Coach Brandon Schiltz chuckled slightly when he said he watched a lot of good golf Thursday.

He had every right to feel giddy about the Saints opening performance.

Xavier set a school record, shooting 289 and capturing the team title at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet at South Hills Golf Course. All six Saints shot 78 or better with Logan Otting, tying for second with 3-under 69. Xavier won by three strokes over runner-up Cedar Rapids Prairie and Linn-Mar was third at 296.

“I think it gives all the boys a lot of confidence,” Schiltz said. “Really, we had the whole team playing well.”

“I know Logan had a great day today. We took advantage of the weather and some of the course conditions. It was really good. I think we had a lot of confidence and played the game that was supposed to be played.”

Most of the same group broke their own record of 290 set last season at the Warrior Invitational at Saddleback Ridge Golf Course in Solon. They set a high bar right out of the gate this year.

The scores Xavier didn’t use would have been counted by 12 of the other 14 conference schools Thursday. The exceptions were Prairie and Dubuque Wahlert.

“The scores are no fluke,” Otting said. “All of our guys can shoot in the 70s, or high 60s, if they play well.

“I'm just excited for the rest of the year. I think that we can shoot even lower in the future. I'm excited for what this team has to bring.”

Otting demonstrated why he fills the No. 1 spot in the lineup. He finished one shot back of Cedar Falls medalist Drew Larimer and matched Waterloo West’s Jackson Stanford.

Otting has devoted a lot of time on putting in the offseason, spending more than an hour a day reading putts, confirming his aim and setup and rolling the ball. The effort paid dividends in the season opener.

“I've been ball-striking really well recently,” Otting said. “I've hit a lot of greens, but today I've finally started to make like the 10- to 15-foot (putts) for birdie a lot more. I was able to make a nice eagle putt on No. 3 and then pair that with a couple of nice birdies to give me some cushion the whole round.”

His round was powered by a strong start, carding a 34 on the front nine. He was three-under after three holes, thanks to that eagle.

“I was able to set up a good drive there to where I only had like a mid-iron into that par 5,” Otting said. “I was able to stick that one close, too. So. being able to go 3-under through three put me in good position and able to roll a couple putts in settled me down early.”

Xavier senior Jack Pauly shot 72, freshman and 2025 Pribyl champion Harrison Hartke carded 73 and Pranay Monga added 75. With the depth and balance the Saints have, pressure dissipates knowing you don’t have to be perfect for team success.

“I feel like going into the day I wasn't even nervous,” Otting said. “I knew if I didn't play well that we had so much depth and all the guys have been working really hard. And it just kind of takes the pressure off you, knowing that you don't have to play perfect golf in order to get a team win all the time.”

Xavier will get right back to work. Practice starts tomorrow morning and a tough schedule continues next week.

“We’ll go celebrate this one,” Schiltz said. “Make sure we spend some time doing that and we're right back at it tomorrow. We're going through team goals. So, our whole team will be writing down what we want to accomplish this year. … We've already got off to a great start. So, our benchmark is set. Now, we get to hit the ground running and we'll be right back at the Linn-Mar (Invitational) on Monday.”

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Prairie was led by Henry Sobaski’s 71, tying for sixth. Tony Boelter and Emmett Stockdale shot 72 and 73, respectively, for the Hawks. Jeter Lewis rounded out Prairie’s score with a 76.

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Linn-Mar duo of Christian Cloyd and Max Faulkner each posted a 70 to tie for fourth. The Lions also received a 77 from Trevor Denny and 79 from Kael Smith.

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MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CONFERENCE

SUPER MEET

At Waterloo

(South Hills Golf course, par 72)

Teams – 1. C.R. Xavier 289, 2. C.R. Prairie 292, 3. Linn-Mar 296, 4. Cedar Falls 297, 5. Dubuque Wahlert 298, 6. Dubuque Senior 310, 7. Iowa City Liberty 311*, 8. Iowa City West 311, 9. C.R. Washington 312, 10. Iowa City High 316, 11. Dubuque Hempstead 320**, 12. Waterloo West 320, 13. C.R. Kennedy 333, 14. Western Dubuque 336, 15. C.R. Jefferson 387.

Individuals – 1. Drew Larimer (CF), 68, 2. (tie) Logan Otting (CRX) and Jackson Stanford (WW), 69, 4. (tie) Max Faulkner (LM) and Christian Cloyd (LM), 70.

*-Won tiebreaker with best sixth-golfer score.

**-Won tiebreaker with best fifth-golfer score.

XAVIER (289): Otting 69, Jack Pauly 72, Harrison Hartke 73, Pranay Monga 75.

PRAIRIE (292): Henry Sobaski 71, Tony Boelter 72, Emmett Stockdale 73, Jeter Lewis 76.

LINN-MAR (296): Cloyd 70, Faulkner 70, Trevor Denny 77, Kael Smith 79.

I.C. LIBERTY (311): Joel Bilskemper 75, Regan Kopecky 75, Brooks Andersen 78, Will Stoakes 83, Kade Baxter 83, Riley Serterrh 83.

I.C. WEST (311): Isaac Wendt 76, Maddox Smith 78, Pierce Hribar 78, Jack MacLagan 79, Jack Jensen Fitzpatrick 83, Luke Collier 86.

WASHINGTON (312): Cal Slessor 74, Bjorn White 75, Todd Barker Jr. 76, Holden Smith 87.

CITY HIGH (316): Rogers 74, Will Feagler 76, Henry Birt 81, Jack Fleming 85.

KENNEDY (333): Leo Koester 76, Kael Haugen 83, George Trovas 85, Tyler Trudo 89, Connor Ostwinkle 89.

JEFFERSON (387): Cole Fisher 87, Colton Fee 95, Ryan Panoch 101, Dom Rulli 104.

MVC MISSISSIPPI LEADERS

Teams – 1. C.R. Xavier 289, 2. Linn-Mar 296, 3. Dubuque Senior 310, 4. (tie) I.C. Liberty and I.C. West 311, 6. C.R. Kennedy 333, 7. Western Dubuque 336.

Individuals – 1. Otting (CRX), 69, 2. (tie) Cloyd (LM) and Faulkner (LM), 70, 4. (tie) Quintin Hirsch (DS) and Pauly (CRX), 72.

MVC VALLEY LEADERS

Teams – 1. C.R. Prairie 292, 2. Cedar Falls 297, 3. Dubuque Wahlert 298, 4. C.R. Washington 312, 5. Iowa City High 316, 6. (tie) Waterloo West and Dubuque Hempstead 320, 8. C.R. Jefferson 387.

Individuals – 1. Larimer (CF), 68, 2. Stanford (WW), 69, 3. (tie) Sobaski (CRP) and Henry Their (DW), 71, 5. (tie) Boelter (CRP) and Ethan Boyle (CF), 72.

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