Northeast's Valdes Prevails In Playoff; Kirkwood Wins 8th Qualifier in a Row

PANORA, Iowa - After three sudden playoff holes, Northeast's Santiago Valdes took home the Hawks second straight individual District crown at Lake Panorama on Tuesday. 

Valdes and Luke Strako of Southeast each entered the clubhouse yesterday at 15-over par, resulting in free golf.

In a tournament headlined by high winds and cool temperatures, Strako put up a final round even-par 72, the best round of the tournament by four strokes. He climbed the leaderboard and forced a playoff with Valdes. 

After pars on hole 1 and birdies on hole 2, Valdes and Strako walked to the par 3 third hole green with birdie putts awaiting. Strako three-putted, while Valdes sunk a four-foot par putt that gave him the title of North Central District Championship. 

Valdes' victory marks the second year in a row that a Hawks player has won the North Central District Championship, as Ty Heimes (current Northeast head coach) captured the title last year.

As for the team champion, Kirkwood put together the best round three score to propel them atop the leaderboard for their eighth-consecutive national qualifying tournament championship. The Eagles were led by Kolby Shackelford, Grant Greazel and Luke Evans, who each finished in the top six at +18, +20 and +21 respectively. 

It was Shackelford's second top five finish in a row after finishing as the runner-up after a playoff at last year's district.

DMACC stayed strong, despite losing their one-stroke lead to the Eagles on Day 2. The Bears took second place and qualified for the NJCAA National Championships for the first time since 2021. Spencer Clatt topped the leaderboard for the Bears with a sixth place finish at +21. Calvin McNeeley, Kaleb Allen and Sam Vertanen all finished in the top 20. 

Iowa Lakes surprised the field by taking the third and final qualifying spot. Three top 10 finishers (Billy Lyons, Janlo Zaayman & Kendall Nicolai) propelled them ahead of Iowa Central on Day 2. 

The final qualifier was individual Sebastian Camacho of Southwestern. Camacho took fourth place and was the final qualifier in addition to Kirkwood, DMACC, Iowa Lakes, Valdes and Strako. 

Teams will head to Plymouth, Ind. to Swan Lake on May 23-26 to particpate in the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf National Tournament.