Sports
Boy's golf season cruises along
Tyler Ohmann
05/14/2013
The Bottineau and Westhope-Newburg golf teams continued the grind of a condensed season this past week golfing three times.
The Braves and Sioux competed in an individual qualifier in Garrison on Monday and a meet in Bottineau on Friday. The Braves also finished second on Thursday in Velva.
The week began for the boys with Monday’s individual qualifier in Garrison. Players who shot 79 or better on the day were rewarded with trips to the state tournament.
Neither Bottineau or Westhope-Newburg had anyone who qualified.
Northern Lights won the tournament as Dalton Poitra, Nick Myhre and Casey Julson all qualified for state. They shot a team total of 304.
Another strong performance at the tournament was courtesy of the Bishop Ryan Lions. The Lions had a state qualifier in Kalan Elm, who shot 75 and took third place. Bishop Ryan finished second place with a 332 on the day.
Other state qualifiers were Jack McClintock of Rugby, Koby Houchin of Harvey-Wells County and Jordan Dohms of Our Redeemer’s.
The Sioux finished in sixth place as a team with a score of 358 and the Braves finished seventh with a 366.
The Braves hit the links again on Thursday as they traveled to Velva. The Sioux did not particpate.
Bottineau had a strong day from golfers including a 78 from senior Zack Monson and 80 from fellow senior Taylor Parisien.
An 89 from freshman Austyn Lorenz and a 95 from fellow freshman Ethan Jensen helped the Braves finish in second place behind Northern Lights.
Northern Lights’ 313 edged the Braves by 29, who shot a season-best 342.
“It didn’t go too bad for my teammates and me, but I didn’t do that amazing,” said Jensen, a freshman, who is in his first season on varsity.
Jensen is one of a handful of players who the Braves count on for a strong score. That can put a little pressure on someone in his first year.
“It’s kind of nerve racking sometimes, but I just deal with it,” Jensen said.
Also competing on the day for Bottineau were a pair of first year golfers in junior Garrett Pollman (106) and freshman Levi Pollman (108).
The busy week closed for both the Braves and Sioux as Bottineau hosted their annual invite at Bottineau Country Club on Friday.
Six teams competed at Bottineau and the Braves had two teams competing.
The Bottineau No. 1 team finished in fourth place with a 369 and Northern Lights again captured first place. Myhre of Northern Lights took medalist honors with a one under par 71.
Westhope-Newburg finished in second place and got strong finishes from junior Hunter Braaten (78) and senior Lane Berentson (87).
Scored used to calculate Bottineau No. 1’s 369 were: Monson, 82; Parisien, 88; Jensen, 98 and Lorenz, 101. Also competing on the first team were Phil Neubauer and Jaden Strand. Neubauer, a junior finished with a season-best 104 and Strand, a freshman, had a 136.
Jensen, who has finished below 100 in his past two tournaments said that all he looks to do is improve.
“I feel like it hasn’t been that bad, but I feel like I could improve,” Jensen said. “I hope I just get better and better as I go.”
“I’ve learned some more rules and how to hit better and not slice and things like that,” Jensen said about what he’s learned this year.
The Bottineau No. 2 team finished in fifth place with a score of 460. They beat out Dunseith, who was last.
Scores used to calculate Bottineau’s second team came from Levi Pollman (103), Garrett Pollman (117), eighth grader Ethan Poitra (118) and eighth grader Dalton Barbot (122).
Also on the team was freshman Andrew Haberman, who had a 131 on the day.
It was Barbot and Poitra’s first action at the varsity level. They were joined with by three fellow first-timers including: eighth grader Tyler Rispa, who shot a season-best 136 and seventh graders Ty Rude (133) and Kyle Saville (126).
The Braves and Sioux and the rest of the region have two more tournaments in the upcoming week. The first is today in Rolla as Northern Lights hosts their annual invitational. The final tournament of the week is the final individual qualifier, which is scheduled to be hosted in Harvey on Friday.
However, conditions at Harvey’s course are not currently good enough to host the meet, and if still unsuitable for Friday’s meet Bottineau will be the backup host site.
The same arrangement will be invoked for Monday, May 20’s region team qualifier.