The Golf Gods must not get along too well with Mother Nature. After unseasonably warm sunny weather for nearly two weeks, northern Nevada's traditional grey skies and blustery winds were once again in full effect and just in time for the High Desert League's first boys prep golf tournament of the spring, hosted Tuesday at RedHawk Golf Club.

The cooler weather let its presence be known, too.

"Today was a bummer. We were loving the last two weeks," said Spanish Springs golf coach Nick Wirshing, whose Cougars hosted Tuesday's tournament. "About halfway through today's round, the wind picked up and it started to get cold. We were all playing in the same weather so there's no excuses there but it is a bummer.

"We were really happy with the conditions at RedHawk. It's in great shape. We were hoping for great scores because of how good the course is. Then the wind was pushing the ball around and we haven't really practiced in the wind. So it affected us a little bit."

That little bit may have cost the Cougars an early season tournament title. Reno captured the tournament team championship Tuesday, earning a total of 418, five strokes better than Spanish Springs' 423.

Reno got a great leading effort. The Huskies' top two golfers, David Hinitz and Patrick Phelps were the only competitors in the field to post sub-80 scores. Hinitz grabbed individual medalist honors with a 72 and Phelps wasn't far behind, carding a 75.

A trio of Spanish Springs golfers finished in a tie for third. Cole Shirley, Anthony Decker and Tommy McAllister all turned in scores of 82. The Cougars' other two counting scores were the 87 of Owen Bartlett and the 90 of Matt Perera. Spanish Springs did not count the 96 of Drew Hargrove toward its team total.

Competing schools need to count just their top five scorers at each week's league tournament.

"We were hoping for some better scores," Wirshing said. "Honestly, I think we just gave away some strokes here and there. That added up to a little higher numbers than we were anticipating.

"We know we have better scores in us. We know we can beat (Reno's) 418. We'll build on that for next week."

While Reno and Spanish Springs led the way in the team totals, another Rail City squad, east Sparks school Reed, finished third in the Tuesday's team standings. The Raiders put together a team score of 465.

RHS freshman Nate Daylo paced Reed's scoring group, finishing with an 86. Trevor Wood was next up for the Raiders with an 87. Will Rizzuto (93), Garrett Marchese (98) and Wyatt Koskie (101) comprised the rest of Reed's scoring contingent. The local club threw out the 104 of Travis Page.

Reed coach Nick Nemsgern admitted he'd liked to have seen better scores from his players but he was optimistic about improving.

"I thought back and last year we finished the first tournament with a 525 and were fifth. So I'll take it. Plus we finished third," the Raiders coach said. "We'd like to be competitive with Reno and Spanish Springs. We are quite a bit off that pace ... but we're on track. It's the first tournament. We've got it under out belt and I'm pretty pleased with what we have to build on."

Spanish Springs, Reed and the rest of their High Desert League rivals will be in action again next Tuesday at the season's second HDL tournament of the spring. It will be played at WildCreek.