Topeka ? All three of the city golfers agreed: It was just one of those days — a day where the drives weren’t crisp, where the putts wouldn’t fall and where the end of the round couldn’t have come quickly enough.

Yep. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

No medalists emerged among the three city golfers who competed at the Class 6A state meet Monday at Topeka Country Club. Free State’s Scott Moseley fired an 86, Lawrence High senior Daniel Brumley shot an 82, and LHS senior Nathaniel Spencer, one of the favorites to compete for the individual state title, was well out of contention with a 10-over 81.

“It’s really depressing,” said Brumley, who shot a 41 on both nines. “It’s my senior year, and I really wanted to end strongly today. It just didn’t happen.”

Manhattan won the team title with 316 strokes, barely topping Washburn Rural and Wichita Southeast (both 317). Blue Valley West’s Zach Pederson was the individual state champion, shooting a 4-over 75 and winning in a playoff over Blue Valley North’s Andrew Weber and Blue Valley Northwest’s Josh Taylor.

The scores were high for most of the 99 golfers competing Monday. Spencer, for example, shot a 1-under 70 earlier this year at the Topeka West Invitational on the same course. The three city golfers participated in a practice round Friday, where Spencer fired a 2-under.

Monday, though, was a much grimmer story.

Spencer was even through five holes, but suffered a double-bogey on No. 6, and a bogey each on Nos. 7, 8, 10 and 11. He usually is able to dig out of such deficits, but it seemed he kept losing ground when it was time to turn it around.

“Usually, I have no problem getting back,” Spencer said. “This one was probably the hardest one to get out of. I think I had a little glitch in my swing, and I couldn’t hit it straight or with a little draw. I just kept hitting power fades into the trees.”

Lawrence High's Nathaniel Spencer reacts after an unsuccessful tee shot on the back nine during the Class 6A state tournament. Spencer carded a 10-over 81 Monday at Topeka Country Club.

Moseley said he found the putting surfaces inconsistent. Some were fast, and some just weren’t, making it tough to adjust from hole to hole.

The Free State junior made a strong case to take “bad luck” medalist honors, if there were one. The 18th green at Topeka CC had two tiers, and Moseley had a par putt from about 15 feet on the top tier for par. It not only lipped out, but then somehow had enough juice from the edge of the cup to hit the steep slope and keep rolling and rolling and rolling downhill and away from the cup.

A 15-foot par putt that nearly went in, amazingly turned into a 40-foot bogey putt. He ended up getting a double-bogey.

6Sports video: Rough day for city golfers (05-24-04)

Moseley will have another shot to improve next year, but Brumley and Spencer saw their otherwise successful high school careers end with frustration.

“I’m disappointed,” Spencer said, “but I had a great season. I’d rather have a good season and one disappointing tournament than have it the other way around.”