North Tama junior Caden Stuart celebrates after sinking a short putt for par on the eighth green — his 18th hole — during the Iowa Star Conference tournament Wednesday at Traer Golf & Country Club. Stuart shot 94 to help the Redhawks to a third-place finish.

GMG separated itself from host North Tama with a double-digit improvement over the second nine holes, finishing two strokes shy of catching Clarksville for the top spot at Wednesday’s Iowa Star Conference tournament at Traer Golf & Country Club.

Clarksville maintained the lead it established through the first nine holes to take the team title, shooting a 360 to GMG’s 362. North Tama, which was tied at 186 with the Wolverines at the turn, couldn’t make up as many strokes as GMG did and settled for third with a 369.

Both Clarksville and GMG had three all-conference performers, while North Tama had a pair. The Redhawks’ lone senior Tony Weber shot an 88, while sophomore Jacob Gorder came in with a 91 to take eighth. Caden Stuart parred two of his last four holes for a 94, and Clayton Vogeler rounded out the team tally with his 96.

“We said, ‘this is what we needed to shoot,’ and they were close,” said North Tama coach Mike Estes, “but they did a good job. I’m not displeased. It’s right around what we’ve been averaging.

“(The conference) is down a little bit but that makes it competitive. This was fun. You look up there and we’re in second place at the turn and it just depends on who golfs well and stays out of trouble that second nine. If we can get a couple strokes off each round we’ll be alright in sectionals.”

The Redhawks go to Grundy Center May 15 to tee off the postseason.

“Grundy Center will be out front and Gladbrook-Reinbeck will be up there, and it’ll be a fight between us and Waterloo Christian and BCLUW and GMG for that third spot, and right now GMG’s really golfing well,” Estes said. “Hats off to GMG and Clarksville, they did a nice job today. They did what they needed to do.

“It’s just a couple strokes here and there. All our guys had maybe one hole where they double- or triple-bogeyed, and if we get rid of those …”

NORTH TAMA (369) – Weber 88, Gorder 91, Caden Stuart 94, Clayton Vogeler 96, Cael Kopriva 101, Samm Sienknecht 117.