Two Newton golfers capture Ames flags

AMES — Derek Damman and Austin Reynolds captured flags at Monday’s Ames High Invitational golf tournament. The Newton High golfers finished sixth and 17th, respectively, earning flags.

“Ames gives out the flags that were on the flag sticks from each green instead of medals,” said Pat Riley, Newton head coach.

Damman paced the Cardinals with a 75 for the 18-hole event at Ames Country Club. Reynolds placed 17th by carding a 78. Devin Shores finished with an 80 and Payton Thomas shot an 85.

Jordan Henning came in with an 89 for Newton’s fifth score. Tyler Thongvanh ended up with a 90 for the day.

The Cardinals combined for a 318, which put them seventh in the field of 12 teams. Riley said Newton was just seven strokes off of tied second-place teams Southeast Polk and West Des Moines Valley at 311. Ankeny Centennial claimed the team title with a  298 score.

“I thought we played pretty well today. I always feel we can score better than 320,” Riley said. “That is really our measuring stick. If we are higher than 320 then we didn’t have a good day. If we are well below that, I feel we shot really well.”

Riley said the Cardinals have a long stretch of meets coming up — three days in a row starting Friday at Elmwood (Marshalltown Invitational) then Monday at Briarwood (Valley Invitational) and finally Tuesday at Copper Creek (Southeast Polk Invitational).

“I look forward to seeing continued improvement out of this team. It was a good day,” Riley said.

Contact Sports Editor Jocelyn Sheets at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.