Sports

Bottineau girls golf advances to state meet

By Tyler Ohmann

05/21/2013

It was a very successful day all around for Bottineau County’s female golfers last Thursday in Garrison.

The Region 4 team qualifier meet ended with Jade Teske of Westhope-Newburg taking first place and advancing to state and the Bottineau girls finishing third and also moving on to the state meet.

Both teams suffered through nine grueling holes as rain poured and the meet was eventually shortened.
Coaches agreed to end the meet and double the players’ nine hole scores to come up with the final tallies.

Teske ended with the winning score of 86, beating out Elizabeth Blessum of Rugby and Samantha Cottingham of Central McLean, who each had 92.

“I knew I was doing really well, but I didn’t know I was doing that well,” Teske said.

Teske said the conditions were tough, but that they also helped a little bit.

“It was really tough, because it was really cold,” Teske said. “But it made me concentrate more, because it was pouring rain.”

For Teske, a senior, it was her first time medaling at region, and the trip to state will be her fourth straight.

She said strong putting helped her shoot such a low score.

“I really concentrated on my putts, and I tried to limit them to two or less,” Teske said. “That really helped me out.”

Also moving on to the state meet, which will be held at the Tom O’Leary course in Bismarck on May 27-28 was the Bottineau Stars.

The top three teams at the meet last Thursday advanced to state, and Bottineau snuck into that third place finish.

Bottineau used the scores of 108 from senior Ashley Blue, junior Bailey Neubauer and eighth-grader Abby Bristol, as well as a 110 from eighth-grader Alicia Monson to give them the third place total of 434. Also golfing for Bottineau were Cheyenne Sturlaugson and Alexis Kihle, who both had 134.

Rugby took second with a 400 and Central McLean finished first with a 398. Central McLean also swept the region awards as coach Toni Cottingham was named Region 4 Coach of the Year and senior Samantha Cottingham was named Senior Athlete of the Year.

Teske said that she is looking forward to trying to finish her best at state.

“I’m just hoping to place as well as I have in the past,” Teske said. “Each year I’ve done better, so I’m just hoping to place my best in the end here.”

She finished in 43rd place last year with a two-day total of 188. Bottineau’s Ashley Blue also participated in the state meet last year in Carrington and shot a two day 196 to take 57th place.