Hillsboro golfers placed third Monday at Belleville with 428 strokes to qualify as a team for the 2A state golf meet.

Coach Scott O’Hare said the team battled extremely challenging conditions.

“The conditions were the toughest I have ever had a team compete in for 18 holes,” he said. “It was pretty cool and rained basically the entire time. The course was saturated and the players were soaked very early on. We did all we could to help them stay warm and relatively dry, but eventually, it was a matter of toughing it out. This turned out to be a great mental challenge.”

Individually, Elliot Ollenburger shot a 99, Elias Werth shot 102, Carson Herbel shot 113, and Colin Settle shot 114.

Although the team score was not as low as it had been the last several meets, the team finished behind the No.1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the state, O’Hare said.

“There were times when they had their doubts,” he said, “but I am proud of them for grinding it out and being rewarded by earning a trip to state.”

The 2A state golf meet starts at 8:30 a.m. Monday at Salina Country Club.

Hillsboro also placed fifth of 10 schools May 10 at the Central Kansas League golf tournament in Pratt with 383 strokes.

Placing in the top 25 of 60 competitors, Hillsboro golfers Herbel, Ollenburger, and Werth earned individual medals.

Herbel placed 15th with a 92, Ollenburger was 20th with 95, and Werth was 24th at 97.

Colin Settle narrowly missed a medal, finishing in 27th with a 99.