Iowa Hawkeyes-bound Blue Valley HS golfer Chance Rinkol wins Kenneth Smith Award

Recent Blue Valley High School graduate Chance Rinkol won the Kenneth Smith Award on Wednesday as the top boys high school golfer in the Kansas City metro.

Sponsored by the Kenneth L. and Eva S. Smith Foundation, the award is presented each year to the area’s top male and female golfers.

And Blue Valley seems to be putting out some good ones: Hadley Neese won the girls Kenneth Smith Award last winter as junior.

Nominees, submitted by golf coaches and athletic directors, are judged in four areas:

• performance in high school golf tournaments

• academic achievement

• leadership on the golf team and in other aspects of school

• community service through school, church or other activities.

Rinkol, who will compete this fall as a freshman for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes men’s golf team, started off his high school golf career by winning the 2021 Kansas Class 6A state championship. He helped lead Blue Valley to state team titles in both 2021 and 2022.

As noted in his Iowa Hawkeyes bio, Rinkol had “a scoring average of 70.8 in 2023, improving his stroke average four strokes from 2022.” He was ranked No. 46 on the Rolex Class of 2024 ranking.

He also won the 2023 AJGA Joplin Junior Championship (shooting 9-under par) and the 2023 Midwest PGA Junior Championship and received the PGA Midwest’s Junior Golfer Student-Athlete Award.

In recognition of Rinkol’s achievements, the Kenneth L. and Eva S. Smith Foundation is contributing $5,000 to First Tee of Greater Kansas City to support its child development programs.