The Bluejay golf team traveled to Manhattan on Thursday, April 27, to compete in the St. Marys Golf Invitational in a varsity meet at the Stagg Hill Golf Club. There were 15 area schools that participated, and the Bluejays rose to the occasion to top the team leader board and win the tournament.

Schools that participated included Council Grove, Rossville, Seneca, Sabetha, Silver Lake, Santa Fe Trail, St. Marys, Holton, Lyndon, Jefferson West, Horton, Herington, Saint Marys Academy, Frankfort and Perry-Lecompton. As a team, Sabetha finished with a four-man team score of 338 to top the standings by three strokes to their closest competitor.

“The weather was perfect with very little wind and 65 degrees,” said Head Coach Scott Burger. “I thought all of our team had a good day. Of our six golfers, all six played well. Stagg Hill can be difficult with all the trees and our players avoided getting big scores, thus keeping their score down.”

Junior Dalton Rokey was the top finisher for the Jays and placed fourth overall, and fellow junior teammate Cullen Wikle finished just two strokes behind Rokey and grabbed fifth place. Sophomore Roman Scoby finished in a three-way tie with Wikle and a player from Silver Lake to round out the top three scores for Sabetha.

“My driver kept me in the fairway, which is good with all the trees at Stagg Hill,” Rokey said.

Junior Cole Grimes finished in the four-way tie for 13th place overall to aid his teammates and to contribute to the Bluejay’s three-stroke, tournament-winning, four-team member score.

“Yesterday went really well,” Grimes said. “Everything was clicking and putts were going in.”

Sophomore Caleb Renyer finished 19th on the day and junior Tyler Menold completed the course to tie for 25th place in the field of 81 players participating in the tournament.

The Bluejays traveled to Holton on Monday, May 1, for a Big Seven Quad, and then turned around and headed west to the Marysville Invitational on Tuesday, May 2. These results were not available at The Herald’s press time.