The recent warm weather has been a welcome sign for Steelville High School’s golf team.

The Cardinals, who are coached by Bryan Ruediger, began their season on March 30 competing in the Holiday Ranch in Cuba. After their scheduled match against Sullivan on April 2 was cancelled due to inclement weather, Steelville then competed on April 6 in the first Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) meet of the season before playing on April 7 in the Bogey Creek Invitational in Farmington.

The Cardinals are scheduled to compete in West County on April 13 and in GVC’s in Viburnum on April 14 before returning to the Holiday Ranch Golf Club in Cuba on April 16 to take part in their second GVC match of the week.  

Holiday Ranch Classic

Steelville competed in the Holiday Ranch Classic along with Bourbon, Fatima, Newburg and Cuba. Fatima won first place as a team and had the best individual performances. 

As a team, Fatima won with a 157 score, Newburg took second, Bourbon finished in third, Cuba fourth, and Steelville fifth. Fatima had the first- and second-place winners in the individual scoring as senior Dylan Schwartze shot a 38 to take first place and junior Evan Otto shot a 39 to take second place. Newburg junior Nathaniel Killian shot a 40 and finished in third place. 

Steelville seniors Wesley Keymann and Nick Hoff shot a 49 and 52, respectively. Junior Joe Brand and sophomore Jarrett West also competed in the event, but their scores weren’t inputed into the scoring app. Senior Flint Harmon was sick and didn’t participate. 

GVC action in Belle

The Cardinals had a week off due to the rain before competing in the first GVC meet of the season in Belle along with Bourbon, Belle, Cuba and Viburnum. Steelville had a productive day on the course, taking second place as a team.

Belle won first place as a team and had five of the top six individual scores. As a team, Belle posted a 324, Steelville finished in second with a 385, Cuba took third place with a 404, Viburnum fourth with a 428 and Bourbon finished fifth after only having three players. Hoff was Steelville’s best golfer of the meet and finished in sixth place. Keymann took 8th, West finished in 10th, Brand took 14th and Harmon finished in 19th.

Bogey Creek Invitational

The Cardinals traveled to Farmington the following afternoon to compete in the Bogey Creek Invitational along with 26 other schools from across the state. St. Vincent won first place as a team after shooting a 329. Bloomfield finished in second and Notre Dame’s (Cape Girardeau) junior varsity team took third place. Steelville finished in 23rd place out of 27 teams competing. 

West was Steelville’s top performer, shooting a 97 to finish in 87th place. Brand shot a 107 and took 104th, Harmon shot a 109 to finish in 107th, Keymann shot a 110 to take 110th place and Hoff finished in 123rd after shooting a 129.