Heryford leads Newton girls golf to seventh at Linda Bloom Invitational

MARSHALLTOWN — Rylee Heryford broke up the Marshalltown party at the top of the leaderboard on Thursday.

The Cardinal senior shot a 5-over-par 75 to take runner-up medalist honors at the Linda Bloom Invitational.

Marshalltown won the tournament easily after placing three golfers in the top four and four in the top seven. Amber Henson, a future Drake Bulldog, was the meet medalist with a 4-over-par 74.

The Bobcats shot a 330 to win their home tournament at the par 70 Elmwood Country Club.

“Elmwood is a tough course with a lot of elevated greens. Our approach’s around the green struggled today,” Newton girls head golf coach Ashley Kahler said. “We did get better as the day went on. It was a long meet with a delay and slow play. The girls did a good job adjusting to the slow play and did get better.”

Heryford, who plans to walk on at the University of Iowa, led the Cardinals to a seventh-place finish in the 16-team field. There were 17 total teams but Des Moines Roosevelt did not finish.

Marshalltown shot a 330 at the top and the rest of the first five included Southeast Polk (384), Waukee Northwest (392), Ankeny Centennial (394) and Waukee (400).

Dallas Center-Grimes (404) shot two strokes better than Newton (406) and the rest of the top 10 was Grundy Center (423), Ames (425) and BCLUW (441).

Nevada (444), Urbandale (453), Grinnell (498), Ottumwa (505), Mason City (520) and Fort Dodge (523) completed the field.

Heryford’s 75 included nine-hole splits of 37-38. Henson’s splits were 35-39.

Ella Price was the next Newton Cardinal with a 106 and the other counting scorers were Marin Pettigrew (110) and Sophia Reynolds (115). Madison Price (119) and Addison Hook (126) turned in non-counting scores.

Three players shot under 80 in the tournament. Natalie Henson of Marshalltown shot a 79 in third.