Comet girls host quad before NEIC golf meet

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Though the scores are not quite where he was hoping for them to be at this time of the year, Charles City girls golf coach Eric Johanningmeier cites his team’s improvement throughout the course of the year.

“We’re at a point where we can talk about strategy and ways of taking a stroke or two off their scores,” he said.

On Tuesday, the Comets hosted three teams at Cedar Ridge — two of which are conference rivals who will return to C.R. on Monday for the Northeast Conference Meet.

Among the two was New Hampton, which was led by Allison Nuss’s medalist 9-hole score of 41 as the Chickasaws carded an overall score of 179 to win the meet.

Clear Lake, paced by the runner-up pair of Emily Snelling and Ashley Delong who both shot 42, was second with 192.

Charles City junior Emma Williams and senior Gen Wandro, who are returning all-conference players, shot respective scores of 49 and 50, to lead the Comets.

Abby Milligan (54) and Mija Cotton (56) completed the scoring for Charles City, which placed third (209), a single stroke ahead of Waukon, which was paced by Caitlin Shelton’s 50.

Aside from the all-conference success Wandro and Williams had at last year’s NEIC Meet which was held at Waverly Municipal Golf Course, the Comets have a good percentage of experienced seniors on their team … though that sometimes can be troublesome.

“High school is winding down for them, so you have all these things going on,” Johanningmeier said, “but our girls have remained focused.”

After Monday’s conference meet, the Comets still have a few regular-season meets before districts on May 22. But their slate is clean for the next six days.

“It would be nice to get a whole night of practice in which we haven’t be able to do this year,” Johanningmeier said.

At Cedar Ridge Golf Course

May 2

NEW HAMPTON (179)

Allison Nuss 41, Ellie Ewert 44, Morgan Nuss 44, Mya Anderson 50.

CLEAR LAKE (192)

Emily Snelling 42, Ashley Delong 42, Mattie Krause 53, Jordyn Baragy 55.

CHARLES CITY (209)

Emma Williams 49, Gen Wandro 50, Abby Milligan 54, Mija Cotton 56.

WAUKON (210)

Caitlin Shelton 50, Whitney Cota 52, Kaylee Hager 54, Kayla Palmer 54.