The Washington Golf and Country Club will be a busy place Tuesday with three area schools competing in a boys and girls golf triangular when the Washington Demons host the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks and Columbus Wildcats.

This is the first outing of the year for the Demon boys and girls. The Washington boys had a big season last year, earning their first state tournament bid since 2018. The Demons were team runners-up at the Southeast Conference meet, sectional meet and district meet to qualify. At state Washington finished 10th in Class 3A, led by sophomore Roman Roth’s eighth place individual finish. Teammates that joined Roth in Ames included John Prochaska, Grant Sobaski, Luke Beenblossom, Teague Mayer and Isaac Vetter to combine for a 741. Washington will have to replace Prochaska, Sobaski and Zeke Slagel who have moved on through graduation. They return their top two players by the numbers including Roth with 41 and 74 averages and Mayer with 46 and 87 averages for nine and 18-holes respectively. The Demons won this event last year with a 192, beating Mid-Prairie’s 220 and the Wildcat’s 279.

The Demon girls continued their impressive run on the links in 2022. Washington, the defending state champs, returned to state again, under the direction of first-year head coach Erin Thorius. It was the program’s 21st bid to state. The Demons went 38-6 in the regular season, won the Southeast Conference title with a 348, and were regional champions with a 361, led by individual regional medalist, junior Kaylin Long’s 81 and runner-up junior Makenna Conrad’s 82. Washington finished sixth in Class 3A at the state meet in Adel with a team score of 805, led by Conrad’s 182 in 17th. Other Demons joining Long and Conrad in Adel included Alecia Goff, Mallary Johnson, Maci Williams and Haley Mitchell. The Demons won this event last year with a 179, beating Mid-Prairie’s 210.

The Golden Hawk boys and girls opened the season Monday with wins over Iowa City Regina. The Mid-Prairie boys were a winner 167-214, with freshman Bryce Henry taking medalist honors in Kalona with a 38 and senior Warren Scarff, a district qualifier last year, medalist runner-up with a 39. Other scores for the Hawks included Drew Schlabaugh and Clayton Davidson with matching 45s, Alex Bean at 49 and Aiden Bush 54. The Mid-Prairie girls split a triangular at Pleasant Valley Monday, finishing with a 198, falling to Cedar Rapids Xavier’s 177. Regina did not post a team score. Gabi Robertson led the Hawks with a 45. Mid-Prairie was a first round team regional champ last season, regional final runner-up and finished 10th at the 2A state meet in Cedar Falls in 2022.

This is the season opener for the Columbus Wildcat boys and girls. The Columbus boys had a 3-27 record last season. The Wildcats were ninth at the Southeast Iowa Superconference tournament and finished fifth in their sectional. Columbus will have to replace senior leader Robert Coil and his best on the team 52 and 101 averages for nine and 18 holes respectively. Senior Grant Watson is the leading returner for nine holes with a 55 average and junior Cole Storm has the best 18-hole average back at 102. The Wildcat girls return both members of last year’s team. As a junior Faith Barnhart had a nine-hole average of 72 and Melanie Nunez finished her freshman season with a 97 average per nine. Action starts tonight at 4p.m. and continues into the evening at the Washington Golf and Country Club.