After a week of strong wind causing the meet to be rescheduled, the South Loup boys’ golf team hosted the South Loup Invitational on April 11 at Arnold Country Club.

Coach Jarod Rush said the day wound up being pretty nice in the morning with not too much wind, making for favorable playing conditions.

While it did get breezier in the afternoon, that didn’t deter Colbi Smith from shooting a 78 on the day to win the Invitational.

“Colbi had a great first round with a 37,” Rush said. “It was a little more difficult in the afternoon with the wind.”

The Bobcats were down three golfers last week due to State FFA, so the meet being moved to Monday played in the favor of the South Loup team, although Joey Sallach, Grant Hrupek and Matthew Mannon were unable to practice leading up to the meet on April 11.

“That hurt us a little bit,” Rush said. “Joey just missed out on a medal with a 104, Grant shot a 110 and Matthew played a 127.”

Dylan Handley shot a 120 and Brady Brestel came in with a 129 on the round of 18.

Rush said that while the scores for a few golfers were not where he would have liked them to be, he was impressed with Brestel’s performance.

“Brady has really improved in the past two weeks,” he said. “This is his first year of golf and he is learning quickly.”

Carleigh Laible played her first-ever nine holes and finished the day with a 76.

Looking ahead, the South Loup golf team heads to River’s Edge in North Platte to take on Hershey on April 14, weather permitting.

Rush said there were some things his team would need to work on if they wanted to stay competitive.

“We are going to have to work on dropping that team score to under 400 if we want a chance at a team trophy,” he said.

The meet at River’s Edge against Hershey will tee off at 10 a.m.