The Bobcats boasted five all-conference golfers on a squad that cleared Ames by eight strokes for the team title, 315-323.

It’s the fourth conference title in a row for Marshalltown dating back to winning the CIML title in 2021 — seniors Eli Polley and Ty Faltys were part of all four.

Leading the all-conference quintet was Polley, the overall runner-up with a 7-over-par 77. Faltys was third with a 78, Jacob Seberger matched his season best with a 79 for fourth place, Joe Greazel shot 81 to finish ninth, and Adam Boone earned all-conference without even being a counting score for the team, finishing 12th with an 84. Parker Christen was not far behind, 16th with an 87.

The top six finishers were first-team honorees and the next six garnered second team.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Bobcat senior Eli Polley attempts an eagle putt on the par-5 13th hole during Thursday’s Iowa Alliance Conference Tournament at Elmwood Country Club.

Polley was 6-over heading to the back nine, finishing bogey-double bogey-par before making his way to No. 10.

“It was go mode,” Polley said of his thought process heading to the back nine. “Gotta make a move, gotta get birdies.”

He said his wedges helped him get birdie on three of the first four holes, which got him into contention with Ames’ Bowen Flemming for the top spot. Polley and Flemming were tied with one hole to go — Flemming on No. 18 and Polley on No. 17.

Bringing out his driver, Polley smashed his tee shot right of the hole, where it bounced twice off the cart path and carried much further than intended, roughly 110 yards past the green landing near the fairway on No. 1.

“I knew I had to make birdie to win that hole,” Polley said. “It was really unfortunate, a bad break.”

Polley settled for bogey, while Flemming sank a long birdie putt on No. 18 to clinch the individual title by two strokes.

“Eli did a great job of flushing that front nine and got back in the mix not just individually but getting our team score back to where we wanted it, because we knew after that front nine that we had a lot of work,” MHS head coach Lucas Johnson said.

Faltys also steadied his hand on the back nine after shooting 6-over on the front, with only two bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 and pars on the last three holes.

“Things were starting to tighten with us and Ames and that was an important stretch of holes where every shot was going to count,” Johnson said. “It was great to see Ty hit up and hit some quality shots.”

Seberger matched his personal best of a 79 shot at Veenker earlier this year and was in contention for the individual title before a tough triple bogey on No. 14.

“He seems to save his best golf for the toughest days of competition,” Johnson said. “Getting those three guys in the 70s today was huge. The greens were not forgiving at all, and if you weren’t precise with your approach shots, you were gonna get penalized.”

Greazel was among the lead pack at the turn with a 39 on the front.

“I’m sure he wants some shots back on that back nine, but it’s that aspect of team golf where guys pick each other up,” Johnson said. “Joe was our leader on the front, then our guys stepped up on the back. That’s what team golf is all about, that’s why we’ve had our continued success this season.”

On a day where a steady wind and fast greens wreaked havoc on players’ short games, Boone avoided the really big numbers to get the all-conference honors and Christen provided the Bobcats with their best performance on the front nine, shooting a 2-over 37 including two birdies on Nos. 2 and 6.

“I give Parker a lot of credit after having a tough start on some really hard holes on the back, then making the turn and shooting really well on the front,” Johnson said. “I don’t want him to feel like he had a bad day of golf because he had some really good stretches there. … And Boone did a nice job of making some smart decisions and keeping it in play to grind out a lot of scores for that second-team all-conference.”

The stage is set for Marshalltown’s next step — a district tournament at Willow Creek Golf Course on Monday where the top three teams and the top two individuals from non-qualifying teams will advance to the 4A state tournament.

“We know we’re in a district where it’s going to take a really solid score to get out of there either as a team or an individual,” Johnson said. “The quality of play state-wide is probably the best that I can remember in 13 years. There’s 8-10 teams in that district that can realistically shoot under 300 on a regular basis.”

The Bobcats were sixth as a team last year at the district meet.

“We all played good today, and Willow Creek’s a very gettable course,” Polley said. “This is a good confidence booster for us.”

Iowa Alliance Conference Meet

At Marshalltown

Elmwood Country Club, par 70

Team Standings — 1. Marshalltown 315, 2. Ames 323, 3. Des Moines Roosevelt 343, 4. Ottumwa 344, 5. Mason City 350, 6. Fort Dodge 350, 7. Waterloo East 394, 8. Des Moines Lincoln 430, 9. Des Moines East 430, 10. Des Moines North.

Individual (top 12) — 1. Bowen Flemming, AMES, 75; 2. Eli Polley, MHS, 77; 3. Ty Faltys, MHS, 78; 4. Jacob Seberger, MHS, 79; 5. Harrison Elliott, DMR, 80; 6. Oliver Fields, AMES, 80; 7. Jackson Kepley, AMES, 80; 8. Davis Underberg, FD, 81; 9. Joe Greazel, MHS, 81; 10. Noah Honn, MC, 82; 11. Chase Thompson, OTT, 83; 12. Adam Boone, MHS, 84.

MARSHALLTOWN (315) — Polley 77, Faltys 78, Seberger 79, Greazel 81, Boone 84, Parker Christen 87.

AMES (323) — Flemming 75, Kepley 80, Fields 80, Ashton Richey 88, Landyn Lohman 91, Daniel Murphy 108.

DM ROOSEVELT (343) — Elliott 80, Sawyer Evans 84, Evan Kohlsdorf 88, Finley Newman 91, Will Dix 92, Tony Song 93.

OTTUMWA (344) — Thompson 83, Logan Storto 84, Tate Harness 88, Gavin Monaghan 89, Stephen Brinegar 93, Milo Canny 98.

MASON CITY (350) — Honn 82, Parker Page 88, Michael Solberg-Maas 89, Nathan Berkley 91, Will Schissel 93, Vance Anderson 111.

FORT DODGE (350) — Underberg 71, Trace Rial 87, Mason Frevert 90, Jaxon Dencklau 92, Gavin Davis 95, Bo Marsh 96.

WATERLOO EAST (394) — Keegan Aitchison 85, Brayden Petersen 100, Nolan Pfalzgraf 101, Caleb Peters 108, Cole Judas 114, Jack Cary 127.

DM LINCOLN (430) — Calvin Bartlett 96, Kaleb Villalobos 106, John Redick 106, Ryder Vizcarra 122, Hank Wright 124, Trip Dickey III 136.

DM EAST (430) — Dylan Housley 98, Devin Audsley 99, Keegan Beattie 109, Eddie Hamann 124, Arun Handley 130, Wesley Jordan 130.

DM NORTH (489) — Landyn Park-Wyld 110, Scott Nguyen 119, JJ Seay 128, David Christensen 132, Bryan Lovan 148.