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North Union golfers set to tee off at state

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — When asked what his goals were for the upcoming Iowa Class 1A state golf tournament, North Union senior Parker Oleson did not hesitate with his reply.

“Shoot for the top five from a team perspective, and do better individually than last year’s state meet,” Oleson said with a wry grin.

Oleson, who will take to the tee box for the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls next season, captured individual state runner-up honors in 2016 on the heels of an 11th-place showing in the 2015 state meet.

Oleson, however, will not be alone in making the trek to the American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown, Iowa, this week.

Nathan Eaton, Brady Anderson, Hayden Nicoson, Preston Brandenburg and Marvin Rezac joined fairway forces with Oleson to earn the boys golf program’s first-ever Iowa Class 1A state team bid via a runner-up district score of 333 in Fort Dodge last Thursday.

North Union will square off against East Buchanan, who produced the lowest qualifying team total of 314, along with Winfield-Mt. Union, Boyden-Hull, Coon Rapids-Bayard, North Mahaska, Bishop Garrigan and Grundy Center at 10:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday in Marshalltown.

“We’ll walk the course and check out the greens on Thursday, and figure out where any potential hazards are,” said Warriors head coach Ken Sabin. “It’s like I told the guys, the sport of golf is you against the course and not directly against the other teams.

“There’s no defense or offense that you can prepare for. You just have to relax and play the best you can on that day, and the results will take care of themselves.”

Indeed. Sabin’s pre-state meet advice proved as true as a Nathan Eaton drive down the fairway.

“That’s one of the key differences in our team this year — Parker and Nathan have a good on-going battle to push each other to be better every time out,” said Sabin. “They’re best of friends on and off the golf course, and I’m sure they’ll play Interlaken (Golf Course in Fairmont) a couple of times this week before we head to Marshalltown.”

In fact, unlike the Warriors’ foursome of Anderson, Nicoson, Brandenburg and Rezac, Eaton’s friendship with Oleson afforded him the opportunity to walk the state course during the last two years.

“Nathan has been by his side, hole-by-hole, keeping Parker’s stats during the 2015 and 2016 state tournaments, so the course is nothing new to him. He should know just about every nook and cranny on the course,” said Sabin.

“One of the things I learned about the course over the past two years is there are out-of-bounds to the left on a number of the holes,” said Eaton, a senior who will play golf at Simpson College next season. “You have to stay away from penalty strokes if you expect to compete at the state level.”

Oleson and Eaton are literally students of the game, and have packed a low-scoring 1-2 punch for the Warriors this spring. Oleson tops North Union with a 37.4 scoring average per nine holes to garner the No. 3 overall spot in Class 1A, while Eaton holds the Warriors’ No. 2 spot at 40.6 — the 12th best scoring clip in the division.

While Oleson fired a 1-under par 73 to earn top medalist honors and first-team accolades at the Top of Iowa Conference Meet in Belmond, Eaton has generated the lowest score at both the sectional and district meets.

Eaton carded a first-place total of 75 to earn top medalist honors at the sectional competition in Newell before winning a playoff with Boyden-Hull’s Davis Van Roekel to claim the gold medal during the district meet in Fort Dodge.

Eaton fired a 75 again at the state-qualifying meet on the strength of nine pars and four birdies.

“I’ve been hitting more greens in regulation and making my short putts,” Eaton said in reference to his recent low-scoring ways. “I changed my grip at the beginning of the year, and I’m finally figuring it out.”

While Eaton has topped the Warriors during the last two meets, Oleson has been in the running for gold, too. The left-hander shot an 80 to capture runner-up sectional accolades before producing a round of 76 to pocket third place at the district tournament. Oleson led the Warriors with a dozen pars to go with one birdie.

“Obviously, we know what Parker and Nathan can do on the course. Now we need to continue to get low scores from our No. 3 to No. 6 players,” said Sabin.

Junior Brady Anderson broke 90 during the district meet (86) and conference meet (85) to play an integral role in North Union’s historical golf season. Anderson, who carries a 45.9 scoring average, earned first-team all-conference honors, while tallying the No. 3 total on the Warriors at districts.

“I told our No. 3 through No. 6 golfers that if they play bogey golf, and Parker and Nathan shoot their averages, we’ve got a legitimate chance to win it (state title),” said Sabin.

Hayden Nicoson, Preston Brandenburg and Marvin Rezac carry similar scoring averages into Friday’s state meet.

Nicoson, who has a 50.0-stroke clip, shot a 98 at districts, while Brandenburg eclipsed his 52.0 scoring pace by firing a 96 at the state-qualifying tournament. Rezac matched his regular scoring pace of 56.0 by tallying a 111 at districts.

“We knocked out three teams that were rated higher than we were at the district meet, and our guys have done a good job of handling close competition during the postseason, so I think we’ll be OK at state,” said Sabin.

Sabin expects East Buchanan and Bishop Garrigan of Algona to be two of the top competitors during the two-day state event.

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