The addition of Detroit Lakes to the Central Lakes Conference just made the girls’ golf competition that much stronger. The Lakers made their CLC debut on Tuesday at Wapicada Golf Club in St. Cloud and they impressed with 316 score and a 21 stroke victory over Alexandria (337). Willmar was third at 347 and Fergus Falls came in fourth out of 9 teams with a score of 357. They were followed by Brainerd (361), Sartell (379), St. Cloud (385), Rocori (409) and Sauk Rapids-Rice (411).
Kennedy Mara of Willmar was the medalist with a 72 and Sophie Christianson of DL was runner-up with a 74. Alexandria’s Rachel Bowen shot a 77 to finish third and the Lakers Tatum Gatheridge was fourth with an 80. Gwen Latunski of Sartell, Jaycie Sliper and Sydney Miller of Detroit Lakes, and Ellie Sticha of Alexandria all carded rounds of 81.
Rounding out the Alexandria scoring were Cadence Simon, who tied for 11th with an 87, Kaiya Chapin who turned in a personal best score of 92 and ended up 19th, Nora Steidl who tied for 25th with a 96 and Haley Srock with a 108, tying for 44th place.
Annie Mayer led the Otters with an 84, finishing in ninth place. Shay Katzenmeyer was eleventh with an 87, Olivia Jurgens placed 17th with a 91 and Hannah Johnson shot a 95, ending up 24th.
“I am so pleased with this group of girls,” stated Fergus Falls head coach Ben Jurgens. “We played with only four players instead of six and they did great, taking fourth place. Today was the first tournament of the year and our first time hitting a ball outside. The time up in the simulator room definitely helped prepare us for today. The girls showed resilience all day as each of them had their own small stretches of tough holes, but they kept playing with great attitudes and posted under control rounds we needed.”
The next Central Lakes Conference meet comes up Monday at the Detroit Country Club in Detroit Lakes.