Spencer, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – The 2024-2025 Sports season has all wrapped up, and we continue our series on the Sports Teams of the Year in the KICD 9-County Area.
Northwest Iowa is a loaded are for Golf in Class 3A. 3 Teams from this part of the state qualified for the State Tournament, one in which was the Spencer Tigers.
Spencer would go unbeaten in duals and Triangulars over the course of the season and were consistently toward the top of Tournaments.
The Tigers started out with a 3rd place finish behind two eventual State Qualifiers at the Landsmeer Boys Golf Invite in Orange City.
Spencer hosted the Bill Chambers Invitational with several highly competitive teams competing, taking 2nd behind Clear Lake and edging out Kuemper Catholic of Carroll by a stroke.
After picking up a win and shooting a team score of 307 at the Tornado Boys Tournament in Storm Lake, the Tigers finished 2nd behind eventual 3A State Qualifier Atlantic at the Kuemper Invitational.
A dominant performance at the Lakes Conference tournament saw Spencer beat 2nd place Estherville Lincoln Central by 18 strokes.
That started the Postseason run at the Spencer Golf and Country Club, where Spencer took 2nd to MOC-Floyd Valley at the 3A Sectional.
At the District Tournament Orange City’s Landsmeer Golf Club, The Tigers fought through the elements to finish 2nd behind host and eventual State Runner-Up MOC-Floyd Valley, punching their ticket to the State Tournament as a team.
The Class 3A State Tournament would be played at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls. In Round 1, Spencer shot a 307, then a 311 in round 2 for a total of 618 and 42 over Par. That put them 16 strokes in front of Atlantic who had beat them earlier in the season at Kuemper. The Tigers took 8th overall, 8 strokes behind 7th place West Delaware while MOC-Floyd Valley lost the tiebreaker to Waverly-Shell Rock for the State Championship at 12 over Par.
The highest individual finisher for the Tigers was AJ Stanley, who was 19th with a score of 6 over Par, shooting a 73 in his first round. Of the top 25 18 hole-cumulative averages in Class 3A, Spencer faced off with 13 of those schools over the course of the season.
In the upcoming year, Spencer does lose top scorer AJ Stanley to graduation, as well as their 6th best cumulative average Grant Ward, but everyone else returns for the Tigers, giving them a lot to look forward to for a possible State Tournament run again in 2026.
This has been another Team of the Year Feature on KICD, for Northwest Iowa Now, I’m Steven Cutler.
Spencer’s stats show their depth. Stanley paced the Tigers in cumulative average for the season at 38.82. The best 9-hole low came from sophomore Harrison Daniels with a 34. Junior Reid Doring had the best 18-hole low at 70.
Spencer’s 9 Hole Low of 146 as a team was tied for 13th in the entire State of Iowa, with their 9-hole average 6th at 155.53. Although their best 18-hole team low was well down the standings, The Tigers 18-hole average of 318.8 was 8th in the entire State no matter the class. This put their cumulative team average of 158.43 at 6th in the State.
