For the first time since 1997 the Hillcrest Ravens have qualified for the state golf tournament, and they will enter the tournament with an unblemished record.

Hillcrest was able to accomplish his feat that hasn’t been done in 26 years by taking first place in the District Tournament at the Brown Deer Golf Club  on May 16. 

“I have the honor and privilege to be the coach of seven great student/athlete golfers, who happen to be one of the best golf teams in the state of Iowa right now,” Hillcrest golf coach Phil Schintler said. “They are a true team. Not one is a real superstar, but when they’re all together there’s no tougher team around. I didn’t want today to be their last day of golf.”

The Ravens took first place at this district meet with a final team score of 332 after 18-holes played and improved its record to a very impressive 44-0. Wapello, who will also be heading to state, finished as the runner-up with a score of 338.

While the Ravens did not dominate this meet like they have other meets this season and despite only having one golfer finish inside of the top ten, it was the consistent team play of Hillcrest that allowed them to claim first place in this all important district tournament. 

“Front nine [holes were] wide open, which maybe was a little bit of an advantage,” Schintler told KCII. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but that’s typical of us. We always finish strong. We weren’t playing our best, by any means, but we played well enough.”

Senior Jace Rempel was the lone Raven to finish in the top ten and posted the best Hillcrest performance in the golf meet. Rempel placed seventh overall with a score of 80, which was just eight over par. 

Not too far behind his Hillcrest teammate was sophomore Liam Schrock. Liam entered a tie for tenth place with his score of 83. His brother, senior Luke Schrock, posted almost an identical score. Luke ended this meet tied for tenth place with a final score of 84. 

Rounding out the first place team scoring for Hillcrest was freshman Rowan Miller who tied for 18th place with a score of 85, senior Seth Ours with a score of 91, and senior Josiah Beachy with a score of 100. 

“If they didn’t quite pull it off today, I wouldn’t love these guys any less. I’m proud of all they have done this year, more than any other Hillcrest Raven/IMS team has at this point in the season,” Schintler said. “They were undefeated in the regular season. They won the 14 team Super Conference championship by a landslide. They won the Sectional Tournament just a few days ago. Today, the magic continued.” 

The magic keeps on continuing, with Hillcrest (44-0) having traveled to Ames to compete in the 1A state tournament, a two-day event that took place on May 22-23.