•  Kollmans, DeBoers lead Lakers to third-place in girls meet

Featuring a lineup of three eighth-graders, one ninth-grader, a sophomore and a junior, the Minnewaska girls golf team placed third at the State Class AA Girls Golf Tournament last Tuesday and Wednesday at Ridges on Sand Creek Golf Course in Jordan.

The Lakers were third after the first day, shooting a 345 score to end up 18 strokes behind first-day leader Detroit Lakes and the Lakers added a 9-hole total of 173 the second day for a 518 total to finish 32 strokes back of first.

Detroit Lakes won the Class AA team title with a 486 score on rounds of 327 and 159 while Lake City was second at 499.  The second day’s action was limited to nine holes due to a storm, which affected all the state golf meets except for AAA.

Lake City’s Jordana Windhorst-Knudsen made up four strokes the second day to win the individual title.  She had a 78 the first day and 36 the second for a 114 total to win by one stroke over Kelby Anderson of International Falls (74-41–115) and Elizabeth Fong of Holy Angels (74-41–115).

Sophomore Ava Kollman paced the Lakers with a 27-hole total of 120 (81-39) to tie for 10th, while ninth-grader Annika DeBoer was next in 31st place with a 128 total on rounds of 85 and 43.

Also golfing for the Lakers were junior Arivia DeBoer in 42nd (87-46–133), eighth-grader Kyra Nelson in 52nd (92-45–137), eighth-grader Lillie Ogdahl in 71st (103-49–152) and eighth-grader Anna Kollman in 84th place (109-56–165).

•  The Lakers will not lose any golfers to graduation from this year’s team.  In fact, the top six golfers from the Minnewaska Area girls team are one junior, one sophomore, one ninth-grader and three eighth-graders.

Yes, the future continues to look bright for Minnewaska girls golf.

•  The Lakers won this year’s WCC team title, winning all eight meets to total 64 points.  BOLD was second with 56, followed by Melrose (48) Montevideo (27), Benson and Morris Area (both 24), and WCA and Sauk Centre (both 23).

All six members of this year’s Laker girls golf team earned All-Conference honors by placing among the top 15 individual golfers in the conference.

•  The Minnewaska girls golf team earned the trip to state by winning the Section 3AA team title by 88 strokes over Redwood Valley (674-762).

Leading the way at the section meet for the Lakers were Ava Kollman in third overall (79-84–163), Arivia DeBoer in fourth (82-82–164) and Annika DeBoer in fifth (84-82-166).

In 2023, Arivia DeBoer and Ava Kollman earned state berths.  During the state tourney, DeBoer had a total of 167 over 36 holes (rounds of 84 and 83) to place 25th overall out of 88 golfers, while Kollman had a 187 total (98 and 89) to place 57th.

State Class AA Girls Golf

Girls team scoring:  

(1) Detroit Lakes 327-159–486  (2) Lake City 338-161–499  (3) Minnewaska Area 345-173–518  (4) Pequot Lakes 355-171–526  (5) Hill-Murray 355-175–530  (6) Holy Family 368-1892–550  (7) Legacy Christian 360-105–555  (8) Rock Ridge 392-199-591

Girls top five:  

 (1) Jordana Windhorst-Knudsen, Lake City 78-36–114  (2) Kelby Anderson, International Falls; and Elizabeth Fong, Holy Angles, both 74-41–115  (4) Sophie Cook, Hawley 77-39–116  (5) Genevieve Birkeland, Pequot Lakes 79-38–117; and Marin Keller, Winona 80-37–117

Minnewaska results:  (10) Ava Kollman 81-39–120  (31) Annika DeBoer 85-43–128  (42) Arivia DeBoer 87-46–133  (52) Kyra Nelson 92-45–137  (71) Lillie Ogdahl 103-49–152  (84) Anna Kollman 109-56–165

•  Thatcher Sherlin places 63rd for boys

Minnewaska Area eighth-grader Thatcher Sherlin competed at the State Class AA Boys Golf Tournament last Tuesday and Wednesday at Ridges on Sand Creek in Jordan.

Sherlin tied for fifth overall during the Section 3AA Boys Tournament to earn his first state berth.  He had a 76 the first day at sections and a 73 the second for a 149 total.  Marshall won the Section 3AA boys team title while NLS was second, Luverne third and Minnewaska Area fourth.

At the state meet, Sherlin shot a 27-hole total of 125 to placed 63rd overall, which included an 87 the first day and a 38 the second during a rain-shortened 9-hole round.

Winning the Class AA state title 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.  How’s that for consistency?

Marshall, which won the Section 3AA title, placed fifth at the state meet, only four strokes back of third-place Totino-Grace.

•  Other notable finishers at the state meet were Morris Area’s Charlie Hanson tied for seventh with a score of 111 (73-38), while Luke Ehlers of Marshall was tied for 11th (72-40–112), and NLS’ Gabe Truscinski tied for 26th (78-40–118).

•  Just missing out on joining Sherlin at state was Minnewaska’s Zach Gugisberg, who had a 156 total (75-81) at the section meet to finish five strokes back of a state berth.

Minnewaska Area, coached by Dion Harste and Nick Gugisberg, placed third during the WCC schedule behind league champion West Central Area and runner-up Morris Area-CA.

WCA totaled 59 points, while Morris Area had 52, followed by the Lakers with 50, Melrose with 42, Benson fifth with 26 points, Sauk Centre with 24, BOLD 22 and Montevideo 12.

•  Next week we’ll highlight the All-Conference team, which includes Thatcher Sherlin and Zach Gugisberg, who both were among the top five golfers in the conference this spring. 

State Class AA Boys Golf

Boys team scoring:  

(1) Holy Family 297-141–438  (2) Detroit Lakes 304-150–454  (3) Totino-Grace 312-152–464  (4) Blake 310-157–467  (5) Marshall 310-158–468  (6) Pine Island-Zum-Maz 315-157–472  (7) Cloquet 314-162–476  (8) St. Cloud Cathedral 331-159–490

Boys top five:  

 (1) Jack Justesen, Hawley 70-35–105  (2) PJ Herron, Holy Family 71-35–106  (3) Carter White, Staple-Mot 72-36–108  (4) Totino-Grace 72-37–109  (5) Jayden Manthei, Marshall; and Zac Kruezer, Albany, both 73-37–110

Minnewaska results:  (63) Thatcher Sherlin 87- 38–125