It wasn’t much of a contest for the Spartans at their district meet in Fairbank, as they beat second-place AGWSR by 53 strokes and swept the top four individual spots in the meet.
“We’re excited about the results, but we’re going to continue to work on the areas we need to improve,” head coach Rick Schupbach said. “As we advance, we realize we need to work on our short game. The girls realize it, and that’s the way it should be.”
Grundy Center shot 365 while AGWSR came in second with a 418. Both advanced to the district meet.
Although the score was never close, Schupbach said there were still areas his team could improve on, like on the second nine, when he said they didn’t perform at their best.
“We struggled the second round, but we held it together enough to have a solid score on the day,” Schupbach said. “We played great the front side – a little below our average with a 177.”
Schupbach said they just need to work on their course management, and “hopefully just keep improving.”
Onnnen again was the top medalist of the meet, scoring an 82. Second was Brittney Cole with a 91, third was Beth Cole with a 94 and Sarah Eisenman was fourth with a 98. Simms golfed a 103 and Appel shot a 111. Simms missed medalist by only two strokes.

Grundy Center claims most state titles ever
State golf title last week is Spartans’ 10th since 1991
By ADAM HARRINGA
Editor

May 27-28
Class 1A State Golf Tournament
For the past 17 years, the Grundy Center girls’ golf program has 
built tradition on top of tradition. Last Wednesday, the Spartans 
secured their spot in history with a run-away victory at the Class 1A 
State Golf Tournament in Marshalltown. With 10 titles in 17 years, 
Grundy Center now claims more state golf titles than any other school 
in Iowa.
“It’s great to be a part of that [10 titles] with this group,” 
Schupbach said. “They’re a special group. They’re fun, they love 
the game of golf and they love each other, and when you can share 
that experience with a group, it makes it special as a coach.”
Schupbach went on to say that this championship represents all the 
girls that played golf for Grundy Center.
“If you look at what happened prior to this year, it set these girls 
up to make state history,” Schupbach said. “So we’re thankful 
and appreciative for those girls who have come before us.”
After the first day of competition, Grundy Center had a 16-stroke 
lead; 360 to second-place Hinton’s 376 strokes.
So going into day two, Schupbach told his team not to get ahead of 
themselves. Schupbach told his team that if they could come out 
strong from the beginning of day two, other teams would have to play 
perfect and they would have to have a let down in order to let anyone 
back in it.
“We wanted to play as if it was scratch,” Schupbach said. “Play 
the course to our capabilities, and if we did that, there wasn’t 
going to be a team that could come from 16 strokes back. So we just 
had to take care of business and not worry about anyone else.”
On day two, Grundy Center shot a 366 to Hinton’s 367, securing a 17-
stroke victory (726-743).
With only a one-stroke advantage over Hinton on day two, several 
members of the Grundy Center team were not pleased with their play. 
However, Schupbach said that shows how focused and motivated his team 
is in all aspects of the game.
“I think if you ask all the girls today, they would have given the 
same answer [that they didn’t play up to their abilities],” 
Schupbach said. “But I think that’s what makes them good. They are 
always looking to improve, and they know there is room for 
improvement.”
Leading the way for the Spartans for the second year at the state 
meet was sophomore Jocilyn Onnen, shooting a total of 170 for the two-
day tournament. After shooting an 83 on day one and trailing leader 
Amanda Butler by four strokes, Onnen shot an 87 on day two to secure 
a second-place finish. Last year, Onnen finished tied for fourth 
overall in Class 2A.
“It feels good [to get second],” Onnen said. “I don’t even 
have words for it – its so exciting.”
Onnen said that although she wasn’t pleased with her performance 
personally, she said the important thing was that they won as a team.
“That’s what matters,” Onnen said, a sentiment that was shared 
by the entire team.
But Onnen is already looking ahead to next year and a possible 11th 
team title. And, she added, she’s going for an individual state 
title as well.
Next for the Spartans was Brittney Cole, who shot a 181 (87, 94) to 
finish ninth, followed by senior Sarah Eisenman, who shot a 185 (94, 
91) for 12th, and senior Beth Cole, who shot a 190 (96, 94) for 18th. 
The two seniors have been a part of three state titles for Grundy 
Center, as well as a runner-up finish.
“This is the best way to go out as a senior,” Eisenman said. 
“This is what I’ve wanted to do since day one. It’s awesome. 
I’m so excited.”
Cole added that it has been a great experience for her.
“I’ve really enjoyed it all four years,” Cole said. “And I’m 
glad we went out with a bang.”
Next for the Spartans was Jenn Simms with a 205 (100, 105), followed 
by Ashley Appel with a 219 (114, 105).
“I was really proud of Ashley and Jenn,” Schupbach said, adding 
that using Simms’ score as their fourth golfer, they still would 
have been state champions.
Along with winning Class 1A by 17 strokes, Grundy Center would have 
also beaten Class 2A champion Hampton-Dumont by eight strokes (who 
also played on the American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown 
Tuesday and Wednesday).
“That’s very gratifying,” Schupbach said. “We were the largest 
1A school and teetering between 1A and 2A, but this proved today to 
us that it wouldn’t have mattered what class we were in – we were 
the class of the 1A and 2A field.”