With the completion of last week’s state golf tournament, another year of high school sports is “in the books” and summer is officially here. The summer equinox (most hours of daylight) is this Friday (June 21) and The Fourth of July is just 15 days away. Yes, summer is already moving fast.
Murray County Central junior Abby Hamman capped another fabulous season on the golf course with an impressive fourth-place finish — among 86 state-meet qualifying girls — by shooting identical 18-hole scores of 83 over the two days (June 11-12) of the state tournament for a 166 total at the Pebble Creek Golf Course near Becker. She was four strokes away from third place and four strokes better than fifth. Final scores ranged all the way from 160 (state champion Rachel Halvorson of Lac qui Parle Valley) to 252.
Abby continues to make her mark at the state meet as she has finished 15th, seventh and fourth in the past three years and has her senior season remaining next spring.
Hamman paced the MCC girls to a fifth-place tie in the final team standings with a total of 800 strokes. BOLD won the Class A girls state team championship with 704 strokes, while Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton finished eighth with its scores of 907.
Sophomore Amber Boock placed 59th with a two-day total of 209 (103-106), while junior Vanessa Dahlgren (211) and freshman Cierra Tutt (217) completed the scoring for the Rebels. Senior Paige Behrends (219) and sophomore Kylie Frisk (227) also competed for MCC at Pebble Creek.
Adrian senior Madelyn Odell (tie for 38th, 196) shot a 93 on the first day, while sophomore teammate Gracia Elias (51st, 202) carded a 98 on the second day. Adrian freshman Josie Altman also enjoyed a strong second day (101) as she finished with a 220 total.
In the boys competition, a pair of area seniors — MCC’s Jack Pierson (80-80 = 160, four-way tie for seventh) and Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s Andrew Quade (80-83 = 163, tie for 14th) each displayed remarkable consistency at Pebble Creek and finished among the Top 15 in the Class A Tournament.
Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda competed a team, finishing eighth with a two-day total of 754 (373-381), 16 strokes from seventh-place Bethlehem Academy of Faribault’s score of 738 (372-366). Community Christian of Willmar won the Class A boys team championship with 655 strokes (328-327).
Individually, HL-O / Fulda was paced by seniors Cory Renneke (94-88 = 182, tie for 54th) and Payton Marquardt (89-96 = 185, tie for 58th). Junior Joe Fischer (192) had the third-best score for the Coyotes, while junior Ethan Koep, junior Tyler Madison and sophomore Isaiah Schmid all finished with identical scores of 208. Madison played very well on the first day, shooting a 92.
Adrian eighth-grader Brock Henning (90-92 = 182, tie for 54th) and MCC senior Cole Ahlers (99-91 = 190, tie of 67th) also competed favorably as individuals. Scores ranged from 145 (state champions Brett Reid of Community Christian) to 252 among a total of 87 finishers.
Congratulations to all of those area golfers for a job well done all spring, capped by fine performances at the state meet last week.
Congratulations are also in order for Ellsworth head track and field coach Ethan Van Briesen (Boys Coach of the Year), Murray County Central’s Brian Christiansen (Assistant Coach of the Year) and Dundee’s Brian Kass (Volunteer Coach of the Year) who works with pole vaulters at Westbrook-Walnut Grove / Red Rock Central. Those three, along with Luverne’s Pete Janiszeski (Girls Coach of the Year), were honored by the voting of the coaches at this year’s Section 3A Meet in Luverne back on May 30. Each of them is most deserving of this special recognition.
Ellsworth’s boys brought home a total of 10 medals from this year’s state meet as the Boltjes twins (Sean and Kade) each earned three, Noah Kruse came home with two and both Robby Armstrong and Cole Boltjes claimed a relay medal apiece.
Sean Boltjes started both the fifth-place 4×100 and the fourth-place 4×200. He also finished sixth in the finals of the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (40.34). Kade Boltes anchored both relay finishes and placed seventh in the finals of the 200-meter dash (22.83).
Kruse ran the second leg on both relays, Armstrong ran the third leg on the 4×200 and Cole Boltjes sprinted the third leg of the 4×100. Kruse and the Boltjes twins finished their stellar track and field careers as Panther seniors. Armstrong was a junior this spring and Cole Boltjes was just a freshman.
The Twins upcoming series against the World Champion Boston Red Sox will be an interesting one. It’s hard to believe that the All-Star Game is only three weeks away. It’s also hard to believe that the Twins could be the first Major League team to win 50 games this season?
