Bobcat boys’ golf team sets sights on another Iowa Alliance Conference title
Last year marked the first fall without a state qualifier for the Marshalltown boys’ golf team in eight years, so this year’s Bobcat contingent is as hungry as ever to make last fall an anomaly.
Marshalltown brings back three players with varsity experience and a cast of youngsters hoping to take advantage of the opportunity in front of them. The Bobcats’ fall season starts Tuesday with a six-team tournament at the American Legion Memorial Golf Course.
“I’m really happy with the mix of players that we’re going to be working with this year,” said MHS head coach Lucas Johnson. “Eli Polley, Ty Faltys, Joe Greazel and Adam Boone are providing a nice nucleus of players who have a lot of experience playing golf.”
The senior Polley and juniors Faltys and Boone played varsity throughout the 2023 campaign, while Greazel is a freshman who comes in with high expectations. Greazel enters as the third-ranked golfer in his age division in Iowa PGA Junior Golf despite playing in far fewer events than his fellow competitors. He won the Principal Charity Classic Junior Open in May, the Optimist Junior Qualifier and the Iowa Junior Boys Amateur Championship in June, and the Quad Cities Junior Championship in July.
“He’s a freshman, but he’s shown throughout the summer and in our early practices that he’s capable of being a guy that we can depend on, so we’re really happy to add him to the roster,” said Johnson. “I’m really excited about the opportunity for some guys to step up.”
Faltys and Polley had nearly identical scoring averages from last fall, as Faltys led the way with a 41.05 combined adjusted average and Polley was just back at 41.25. Boone (44.63) played in all 12 varsity meets last season as well.
Sophomores Jacob Seberger and Parker Christen look to put themselves in the mix to compete for varsity roster spots this season after leading the junior varsity squad last fall. Seberger, who will also participate in cross country, was last year’s junior varsity Iowa Alliance Conference individual medalist.
“They both had really nice JV years and they’re looking now to step up into that varsity role,” Johnson said. “Jacob Seberger had a really nice end to his season last year … so that gave him some opportunity moving forward just to continue to grow his game and he’s done that. He’s worked really hard over the summer so that’s great to see.”
Johnson said his squad did its due diligence over the summer, participating in tournaments and competing at the highest level possible. Six Bobcats played in and three of them — Polley, Greazel and Faltys — even made the championship flight of the Times-Republican’s 37th annual City Golf Tournament.
“There’s no substitute for teeing it up against not only the best high school players, but the best amateur players in the state,” Johnson said. “Iowa’s blessed with a ton of great players throughout, and even former Bobcats that are out here playing with these guys day in, day out helps them a ton.”
Polley shot a two-day total of 7-over-par 147 between Elmwood and the American Legion Memorial Golf Course, tying with 2024 Bobcat alum Ryan Schmit for fifth place. Schmit was the Bobcats’ top golfer last fall after qualifying for state as a junior.
“Eli’s no stranger to playing with those guys and playing against them, but in competition it feels different,” Johnson continued. “The City Tournament falls right before the start of our season so we always encourage players to get into that, just to test their game against the Cole Davises and the Grant Greazels who are going to put down good numbers.”
Schmit and Polley finished 2-3 at the Iowa Alliance Conference last fall at A.H. Blank Golf Course in Des Moines to lead the Bobcats’ second-consecutive team title.
“We’ve had a lot of success going all the way back to the CIML and now the switch over to the Alliance,” Johnson said. “We’ve been in there and I think we’re going for three in a row now in the Iowa Alliance Conference so that’s definitely a goal for us.
“We’ll get a sense of where we’re at on Tuesday, which I’m looking forward to. We always try and play as early as we can just so we know where we’re at.”
Marshalltown’s opening week of competition includes three straight days of meets — Tuesday at home, Wednesday at Ames and Thursday at Cedar Rapids Washington’s 18-team Warrior Invitational hosted this year by Saddleback Ridge Golf Course.
“It’s a nice course the kids wouldn’t normally see, so that’s a fun treat, and an 18-team tournament with a lot of the best teams in the state,” Johnson said. “It was kind of designed as a state tournament preview to see who’s good, so we’ve been going over there for the last four years. That one’s super fun because you get to see a lot of schools you don’t normally see, a lot of schools from the eastern side of the state.
“We’ll learn a lot about ourselves that day.”