The Arlington High School golf team carded 356 strokes April 29 at Fremont Golf Club.
On Monday, though, the Eagles posted 407 across the same 18 holes, finishing seventh out of the 15 teams competing at the Class C District 2 Tournament. Columbus Scotus and Tekamah-Herman claimed first and second, respectively, while Fremont Bergan earned the final NSAA State Championship team qualification with 359 swings — three more than AHS' total from its home invite last month.
“We had glimpses of things going the right way, and then some rough things happened that led to us probably not having our best day,” Arlington coach Scott Parson said. “But, it was a beautiful day for golf.”
The district tournament landed on a warm, sunny morning and afternoon in Fremont after an often cold and windy spring season.
“You're not going to get these very often,” Parson said. “It's just unfortunate that we didn't play our best golf today.”
Putting, the coach said, challenged the Eagles on Monday. Eddie Rosenthal, a team leader, witnessed those struggles firsthand.
“I just wanted to get done with the round,” he said after having a few late putts rimmed out.
Still, the AHS standout — who carded 78 swings on April 29 — finished with a team-best 92 strokes during C-2 competition. He carded a 45 on his first nine holes before writing down 47 on Nos. 9-18 with a hearty crowd following his group.
“My chipping was good, but that was about it,” Rosenthal said.
The Eagles' Jacob Meehan, meanwhile, finished with 99 strokes. He took a team-best 45 swings on the back nine holes at Fremont Golf Club.
Josh Hamre added a 47 on the front nine and finished with 101 strokes total, while Stokely Lewis carded a 131.
Senior Frankie Rosenbalm capped his high school career with a 115, which was 21 more swings than he took during the home invite.
“My putter was just not working today,” the recent AHS graduate said. “I hit a bunch out. Just everything went bad.”
Rosenbalm had only six months of golf experience before joining Parson's team this spring. Even so, he became a reliable No. 2 player for the Eagles, the coach said.
“He's been very, very valuable,” Parson added.
Rosenbalm joined the team with goals beyond the season in mind, too.
“I wanted to get into it because I knew it was something I could do for the rest of my life,” he said. “I wanted to get good so I could beat all of my friends on the weekends.”
And has he?
“All of my friends are pretty bad, so I'm doing pretty good right now,” Rosenbalm said with a smile.
Though the Eagle is out of prep eligibility, his four teammates from Monday's district tournament are not. Hamre and Meehan provided strong scores during the spring, while Rosenthal was a consistent low-man.
“I guess we'll just try and place at more meets and have fun,” he said of Arlington's future plans.
Parson can see the Eagles building on 2022's successes. He said the golfers have a clearer idea of what it takes to succeed on the course now than when they started.
