Sports

Tom O’Leary tests Teske, Bottineau girls for state tournament

By Tyler Ohmann

06/04/2013

The Class B girls golf season culminated with the state tournament at Tom O’Leary Golf Course in Bismarck, N.D. last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Both the Bottineau team and Westhope-Newburg senior Jade Teske competed in the two day tournament.

Teske, who won the region tournament to advance to state represented the region well by making All-State with a ninth place finish.

The Sioux senior shot rounds of 91 and 88 to capture the ninth place finish and cap off her career with her best ever finish at state.

As for Bottineau they shot team rounds of 456 and 437 to finish in 16th place. Bottineau’s top finisher was senior Ashley Blue, who shot rounds of 108 and 100 to take 53rd place overall.

“Golf didn’t really go as well as I thought it would, but it went OK,” Blue said.

This was the fourth state tournament that Blue qualified for in her career. She believed that the course was tougher than in year’s past.

“I thought this course (Tom O’Leary) was really hard and that Carrington last year was a lot easier,” Blue said.

As for the rest of the team, junior Bailey Neubauer shot rounds of 113 and 108 to take 68th place. Eighth graders Alicia Monson (228) and Abby Bristol (236) rounded out Bottineau’s scored used to calculate the team score. Alexis Kihle also golfed for the Stars, shooting 145 and 136.

All five Bottineau golfers improved on the tournament’s second day. The tournament was the first time any of them had golfed the course.

“We could have done a little bit better, but we did good for not having played the course before,” Blue said.

Blue said that the players all struggled a bit with their short games, which kept them from playing to their potentials.

“Putting and chipping really hurt us,” Blue said.
Kindred won the state title for teams with scores of 352 and 357. They also had the overall medalist in Laura Podolak, who shot 76 and 85 to take first place.

Blue said that she will miss being out on the course.

“Yeah, I’ll miss golf a little bit,” Blue said.

For the other four Bottineau golfers the weekend was used to gain experience for a run at state next year.

Blue and Teske will just have to bask in their successes.