Bulldogs guard the gold
Sophomore Chesney Tatman winds up for his tee shot on the fourth hole at the Lake Maloney Golf Course on March 22nd. Tatman shot a par on this 168 yard par-3.
Sunny and 75 degrees was the perfect weather for the North Platte High School Boys Golf Team to take home the gold. The varsity team shot a score of 320 strokes, five strokes less than McCook’s second place finish at the North Platte Invite. Not only did the varsity squad take home the team gold medal, but the bulldogs earned four individual medals.
Sophomore Kyle Zimbelman earned the bronze medal with a score of 76. Zimbelman’s round was his personal best. He said, “At the beginning of the round, I was just hoping to shoot in the low 80s but then I realized I could probably shoot much better.” Zimbelman indicated his personal goal is to continue to contribute and help the team win more this season.
Sophomore Chesney Tatman placed fifth with a score of 79. Tatman said, “I thought I played very scrappy, meaning I got by.” His score was a little higher than his average, but Tatman said it “wasn’t too bad.”
Junior Kort Steele placed sixth with a score of 80. Steele leads North Platte’s team and is a returning two-time state medalist. While out golfing, he is constantly thinking about how to shoot the lowest possible score. He said, “At times this gets me into trouble because I start to overthink!” Steele expressed some disappointment with his personal performance and said, “I wish more would have came out [of my game] during the tournament but with the rest of my team finishing well it made the experience enjoyable.”
Sophomore Kade Wroot was the fourth North Platte player to medal. He tied for 9th place, but lost in the playoff against Grant Sell of Gothenburg, earning him the 10th place medal. After the conclusion of the invite Wroot said, “I definitely could have done better. I had some bad holes that messed up my round.” He hopes to continue to lower his score by sharpening his short game skills.
North Platte head coach, Jim Orcutt, said the team was very excited at the start of the day. He said, “Some had difficulty getting control of their first meet jitters. But, they calmed themselves and played better on their back nines for the most part.” Orcutt proudly stated both the varsity and junior varsity played with grit. He said, “If they had a bad hole, they did a good job of keeping their composure.”
