The Minnewaska Area boys golf team is set to get the 2025 season underway at a pair of WCC meets at BOLD and Montevideo, Friday, April 11.

The Lakers had a great season last spring, finishing third in the WCC boys team race while also sending one golfer (Thatcher Sherlin) to the state meet.

Minnewaska Area will also see its third new head coach in the last three seasons as Nick Gugisberg takes over the helm of the program after Dion Harste was the coach in 2024 and Dave Drexler coached the team in 2023.

Two big dates to remember this spring are Wednesday, May 7 when the golf team is set to golf at Benson and at the Minnewaska Area Golf Club, and May 9-10 when the Lakers host the annual Minnewaska Area Boys Golf Invitational.

•  Last year, the Minnewaska Area boys golf team qualified two golfers to the All-Conference team.  Eighth-grader Thatcher Sherlin placed third overall among the league golfers, while junior Zach Gugisberg earned fifth overall.

They both return this year to lead the Laker team.

Last year’s All-WCC team included four WCA golfers, two from Morris Area-CA, Benson and Minnewaska Area, and one each from BOLD, Sauk Centre and Melrose Area.

WCA won last year’s league title with 59 points followed by Morris Area with 52, the Lakers with 50, Melrose with 42, Benson with 26 points, Sauk Centre with 24, BOLD 22 and Montevideo 12.

Morris Area’s Charlie Hanson, who went on to place seventh at the state meet, earned the WCC individual title again last spring with a 35 average per nine holes during league competition.  He had a 34.83 average the previous spring while also edging the Lakers’ Riley Larson for first overall.

Mitchell Dewey, of WCA, was next with a 37.33 average, while Sherlin averaged 38.33 to tie for third and Gugisberg averaged 39.33 to earn fifth.

It was the second-straight All-WCC honor for Sherlin and the fourth-straight All-Conference award for Gugisberg.

Just missing out on All-Conference last spring was senior Blake Nelson, who had a 42.2 average to place 14th overall, one spot away from All-Conference.

In addition, the Lakers’ Tyler Moscho was 27th overall (44.83 average), Kash Christman was 32nd (46.5), Chase Wacker was 34th (46.83) and Kody Ward was 42nd (48.67 average).

•  In team awards announced last spring, earning the team’s “Eye’s Up” Award for representing the spirit of the game and sportsmanship and created by coach Trevor Solem was senior Blake Nelson.   

Winning the Most Improved Award was Kash Christman, while winning the award for “Golfer of the Year” was Thatcher Sherlin.   “Sherlin, who led the team in scoring average, is known for his course management and the ability to get the ball up and down when not on the green in regulation,” coach Harste said. 

•  Highlighting last year’s season was Sherlin earning a state berth and competing at the State Boys Golf Tourney where he placed 63rd overall with a 27-hole total of 125, which included an 87 the first day and 38 the second.

Sherlin earned his state berth by placing fifth at the Section 3AA Boys Golf Tournament where he shot a 76 and 73 for a 149 total.  Sherlin’s 73 the second day during the Finals tied him for medalist honors.  Gugisberg missed out of a state berth by five strokes.  

Marshall won the Section 3AA boys team title last year with NLS second, Luverne third and Minnewaska Area fourth.  Marshall went on to place fifth at state, only four strokes back of third-place Totino-Grace.

Winning the Class AA state title last spring was Jack Justesen, a senior from Hawley, who had rounds of 70 and 35 for a 105 total to win by one stroke over Holy Family’s PJ Herron (71-35–106).

Holy Family won the Class AA state team title by 16 strokes over Detroit Lakes.  Besides the runner-up finisher, Holy Family also had its other golfers come home with a 112 and two 113’s.