RAPID CITY - Spearfish senior Nik Graslie captured medalist honors at Thursday's Rapid City Quad golf tournament at Meadowbrook Golf Course by shooting a steady 37 on a sometimes rainy, overcast day. His 1-over round was two shots better than Sturgis junior Kyle Kopplin whose younger brother, Kyle, finished third with a 40 on his nine-hole card.

Sturgis nipped Spearfish by two shots to claim the team title, shooting a 171. Rapid City Central posted a 177 and Rapid City Stevens had 181 strokes to complete the nine holes of play.

"The showers weren't really a problem," said Graslie. "The wind picked up for a little while but died down the last three holes. The rain probably helped some, as the greens were putting good and a little slower than usually is the case here."

Graslie credited his score to good putting, especially when par was on the line.

"I made a lot of par putts including a few 10-footers which really helps," he said.

His round included one birdie and a couple of bogeys.

Other tops scores on the days included 42s by Alex Pappel (Stevens), Ben Deverman (Spearfish) and Thomas Birgenheir (Central), while Ryan Jensen (Stevens) and Trevor Kautzman (Central) recorded 44s.

Spearfish head coach Eric Ligtenberg was pleased with his team's effort.

"Our best performance of the year for sure. We've been riding a rollercoaster as far as consistency is concerned," he said. "Today the kids were focused and it showed in better scores.

"Nic Graslie's round didn't surprise me. He's capable of posting a good score anywhere. On this course, with his length, if he makes some putts he is always a threat."

Sturgis golf coach Joe Shetler was delighted to see some consistency from his younger players to complement the usually consistent play of the Kopplin brothers. He got just that as sophomore Zac Smith recorded a 42 which put him into a tie for fourth in the individual competition.

Smith was pleased with his round since he was coming off a mediocre 57 in his last outing on Tuesday.

"My putting was good, my driving was good. Everything was perfect today," he said. "On the second hole, I hit my approach about 5 feet from the pin and that made me feel really good about the day."

Central coach Jeremy Noyes is still waiting for the inexperience of his team to wear off.

"I thought we would be a little farther along than we are but we played very consistently today which is essential to a good team effort," he said.

Stevens' Phil Hunt elected to give some of his younger kids a chance to show their skills resting some of his top players for Friday's action in Sturgis.

All four teams will tee it up at 9 a.m. today in the Black Hills Invitational at Boulder Canyon County Club in Sturgis.