Newton, Kansas -- The No. 1-rated Indian Hills golf team showed this week it is more than ready to take a run at another national championship with an absolutely dominating showing at the NJCAA District III Championship meet. The top-ranked Warriors blew away the competition, winning by a margin of 27 strokes over runnerup Dodge City CC, while shooting a team score of 825, 39 shots under par.
Indian Hills had the individual champion in sophomore Julien Sale and four of the top six finishers. Those four IHCC golfers bested par in 11 of their 12 rounds on the par-72 Sand Creek Station Golf Course.
Sale won medalist honors, beating teammate Joe Kim by five shots and third-place finisher George Clarke by seven. Ricky Sanders' second-round 75 was the lone 18 hole-score over par for that IHCC foursome.
A seven-under 65 got Sale started on his way to the first-place finish. He followed with scores of 70 and 67 to wind up 14-under par with a 202 total. Kim also put together a trio of sub-par scores -- 71, 69 and 67 -- to end the tourney at 207, nine shots below par. Clarke was nearly as good, shooting 70, 70 and 69 for a seven-under 209. Sanders opened with a 71 and closed with a 65 and a 211 total, his 65 matching Sale for the fourth-lowest score for an IHCC golfer since 2000. It was the second time this spring that Sanders carded a 65.
The other two Indian Hills players who teed it up for the district tourney also had one under-par round. Joe Hodgson fired a second-round 70 and wound up at 218, two over for the tourney. Maxime Leclerc had a 71 in his second round to go along with rounds of 77 and 75 to post a 223 score for the Warriors.
Indian Hills closed the district meet in style. It's final round score of 268 was 20 shots under par and the second-best 18-hole result in school history. Dodge City had two consecutive rounds of 280 and still lost 12 strokes over those 36 holes to the winning Warriors.
After notching their 5th tournament win in six outings this spring, the Warriors now have three weeks to prepare for the NJCAA Division I National Championship May 15-18. The tourney will be played at the Rawls Golf Course in Lubbock, Texas, where the Warriors came in 2nd to McLennan CC in the National Preview last October. Julien Sale won that meet and began with a 66, one of four scores of 66 or lower he has had so far this year.
NJCAA District III Championship
Team scores:
- Indian Hills 277-280-268=825; 2. Dodge City 292-280-280=852; 3. Iowa Western 295-284-282=861; 4. Hutchinson 287-294-291=872; 5. Barton County 297-301-293=891; 6. Garden City 298-298-302=898
Indian Hills scores:
1. Julien Sale 65-70-67=202; 2. Joe Kim 71-69-67=207; 3. George Clarke 70-70-69=209; T5. Ricky Sanders 71-75-65=211; T12. Joe Hodgson 73-70-75=218; T22. Maxime Leclerc 77-71-75=223