O'NEILL GOLF TEAM pictured (1-r): Coach-Mark Meyers, Torn Hesse, Jess Fernau, John Hurley, Brady Torpin, Ian Sitz and Coach Dan Fernau.

The O'Neill golf team placed first out of 12 teams to win the B-3 District golf tournament at Wayne on Monday. The day got off to a rough start as lots of golfers were facing tough weather conditions. It was quite windy and cold during the day. Out of the 60 golfers', only two were able to shoot under 80. Derek Hull of Schulyer shot a 74 and O'Neill's John Hurley shot an impressive five under 67. John had some difficulty on the front nine, as he was unable to birdie any of the par fives. He did manage to eagle number five, a 343 yard par four: John's drive was just a few yards left of the green and preceded to chip in for a two. On the par three eighth hole John had his only bogie of the day when his ball landed short of green and bedded down in the thick rough. John finished the front nine with a one under 35. On the: back nine John caught fire. He birdied four of the nine holes to a four under 32. John's 67 game him his third district championship in four years. Also playing well for O'Neill were Brady Torpin and Jess Fernau. Both shot a 40 on the front nine and had a chance to shoot 40 or better on the back nine till the final three holes. Jess finished the final three holes bogie, double bogie, double bogie and Brady went bogie, bogie, triple bogie. Despite their finish, Coach Fernau was really proud of the way they played. They had a lot of pressure on themselves knowing that their scores had to count in order to qualify for state as a team.

Even though they were disappointed with their final scores of 83 and 85, this still placed them in the top 12 out of 60 golfers. Brady finished in seventh place and Jess finished one shot out of receiving a medal in 12th place. Other members of O'Neill's state qualifying golf team are Tom Hesse and Ian Sitz. They struggled some throughout the day and finished with a 94 and a 95. Realizing that one of their scores was needed for team total, they both played hard till the end hoping to finish as best they could. O'Neill finished with a team total of 329. District runner-up was Omaha Roncalli with a 339 and placing third and also qualifying for state was Omaha Mt. Michael with a 345. O'Neill golfers will play at the state meet in Lincoln on May 23-34 at Highland's Golf Course.

Last week O'Neill golfers placed' third at the Highway 20 Invite in Bassett. Placing second for O'Neill was John Hurley with a three under par 69 and placing eighth was Brady Torpin with a 78. On junior varsity, Brett Bosn shot a career round of two over par 74 placing him first among the junior varsity. At the Ainsworth Invite last Thursday, O'Neill placed second. Winning the meet was John Hurley with a 70, placing eighth was Brady Torpiri with an .82 and tying for llth was Tom Hesse and Brett Bosn with an 85. Ian Sitz won the junior varsity competition with an 80 and Stewart finished fourth with a 90.