Nolan Keim

It’s not a way any athlete wants to have his senior year start off by going down with an ACL injury and missing the remainder of the football season and all of basketball season, but that’s what happened to Sabetha Bluejay senior, Nolan Kiem. Nolan hasn’t let that injury deter him from getting back to athletics this spring and be successful on the golf course.

Keim took over the helm as a leader on the Bluejays golf team and has helped lead the Bluejays to success this season, recently grabbing a first place finish at the Rossville Invitational last week after shooting a 78 for the best round of the day and winning the tie-breaker win a teammate to grab first place. Nolan’s, 78 helped Sabetha capture first place as a team out of seven teams competing; as the team finished with a 328, 32 strokes better than second place.

He also took home a third place finish at the Big Seven League quad last week in Seneca after registering a round of 38, actually the second best overall round on the day.

The Bluejay senior has had success with the clubs all season registering a ninth place finish at the St. Mary’s Invitational, a competition that featured golfers from 12 schools, after shooting an 85. He led his team to a win in the Big Seven League quad at Jeff West, while placing second overall individually with a 38, only one stroke behind first place.

Perhaps, Keim’s best performance of the season came early in the year in his home Invitational after winning first place individually; grabbing first place with his teammate, Tyler Ulrich in the 2-man competition and helping Sabetha win the 6-man crown, too. Nolan on the day finished with a 72, 11 strokes better than second place. His 72, along with Ulrich’s 84 gave the 2-man Bluejay team a 156 score good for first, 19 strokes better than second place. The wins for the Bluejays and Keim didn’t stop there as Sabetha tallied the best 6-man score with a 536 total, 12 strokes better than second with Nolan’s 72 leading the way.

Battling adversity has only made Keim stronger this season and a true leader for the Bluejays, as he looks to continue to lead a strong Sabetha golf team to another great performance at state this year after the Bluejays finished second as a team last year in 3A; while he’ll look to improve upon his 57^th place last year, also.