SECTION 3A GOLF: Windom boys, Fulda girls win sub-section golf meet

WORTHINGTON — Amanda Wilkening is on a roll.

Six days after winning medalist at the Red Rock Conference golf meet, the Fulda golfer tied for first at the Sub-Section 3A girls’ golf meet Monday at Worthington Country Club.

Wilkening had a 99, tying with Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s Alexis Quade for medalist honors.

“Mentally, I’ve been trying to do better and get in the game a little more,” Wilkening said. “I’m trying to think about my options a little bit better and that way I don’t get in any trouble.”

However, Wilkening couldn’t avoid trouble on every hole.

“I had a couple of bad tee-off shots and I lost a couple of balls,” Wilkening said. “I tried to stay in the fairway with all the trees.”

The junior golfer was one of the first groups done Monday, leaving her confident that she’d qualify for sections as an individual. However, she was hoping that she’d have some company.

The Raiders finished with a 416 as a team, earning them first place and the right to advance to the Section 3A finals Friday in Marshall.

“It’s very good, I’m so excited,” Wilkening said, holding the first-place trophy with two medals draped around her neck. “I was a little worried that I’d be the only one going, but I’m really glad that my team is going.”

Adrian finished with a 428 to place second. The Dragons will also advance as a team.

W-WG was third with a 441, with Red Rock Central taking fourth with a 442. Murray County Central was fifth with a 478, followed by Southwest Christian with a 481. Southwestern United was incomplete.

Wilkening, who shot a 96 and won in a playoff at the conference meet May 12, wasn’t sure if a 99 would be good enough to win Monday.

“I thought (Monday) was a lot nicer than last week and a lot of other people would come in with better scores,” Wilkening said. “But it was a good day. I was really surprised that I came in with another lower score.”

But she wasn’t the only one with a low score.

Quade, who was playing in the first girls’ group, was the first to post the score.

“A lot of my drives were slicing pretty bad so I had to pull out my higher woods to get it to go straight, but that was a key,” Quade said. “Keeping it straight on this course is really what helped me out.

“My second shots, as long as they were in the fairway, were pretty good. My chipping was good and taking a practice round on Saturday was really helpful because the greens are really difficult.”

When the junior golfer was on the course Saturday, the results weren’t quite what she had hoped for.

“Saturday we didn’t keep score, but I’m thinking I would have been in the 120s,” Quade said. “This was a vast improvement compared to that.

“(Monday) I was more in the mindset. Going off in the first group, I was in the mindset that I need to do good and lead my team and hopefully we can do a little better.”

Playing with No. 1 golfers from other schools, Quade was trying to be the low score in the group.

“I thought they all shot better than me, but when we got done, they all said they were over 100,” Quade said. “Then I was pretty excited, knowing that I already beat all of them. I knew that Amanda would be tough competition because she won conference. I was prepared for that.”

The two will have a chance to compete against each other Friday.

“(I want to) do well at sections,” Wilkening said. “I don’t expect to win it, but I’d be happy just doing extremely well.”

After Wilkening’s 99, Tessa Kramer finished with a 103. Brook Johnson had a 105, with Reva Johnson firing a 109 for Fulda.

Adrian, which placed second, was led by Brittany Loosbrock’s 101. Laura Lorang had a 107, with Brianna McCarthy firing a 109. Kelsey Altman had a 111 for the Dragons.

After Quade’s 99, Molly Jarmer had a 112, followed by Morganne Knakmuhs’ 114. Kassandra Jarmer had a 116 to round out the scoring for the Chargers.

Red Rock Central was led by Caitlyn DeCock’s 103. Alison Kircher had a 107, followed by Jenna Smith’s 113. Amanda Artsten had a 119.

Suzie Buesing had a 116 to lead MCC, while Taylor Swanson (119), Michelle Carlson (120) and Meghan Carney (123) had scoring rounds.

Emaleigh Vreeman fired a 103 to lead SWC, while Jenni VanderVeen had a 114. Tara Blom finished with a 127, followed by Kenzie DeKam’s 137.

Ally Lenz finished with a 107 for SWU, while Nicole Mueller had a 108.

Quade, Vreeman, DeCock, Kircher, Lenz and Mueller will each advance individually to the section meet.

Johnson leads Windom to victory

After the first shot of the day, Windom’s Hunter Johnson thought he was in trouble.

Teeing off in the first group on No. 10 in the Sub-Section 3A boys’ golf meet Monday, Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s Derek Eichner was the first to hit to the 115-yard par 3.

“The first shot of the day for anybody (Eichner) puts it to like two feet,” Johnson said. “So I’m like, ‘I have to get it somewhere close.’ And I ended up hitting it over the side of the green and I had a terrible lie and everything. I’m like, ‘Oh boy.’”

Johnson, who kept Eichner’s scorecard, bogeyed the first hole and double bogeyed the second.

“I had his card, so I wasn’t really looking at the other kids’,” Johnson said. “I knew he was beating me by three or four strokes after two holes, so I’m like, ‘I’m just going to worry about my own and not worry about him.’”

Johnson’s strategy worked.

The junior golfer finished with a 79, earning medalist honors and leading Windom to a 343 and a first-place finish.

“I started off slow, with a bogey and a double on the first two,” Johnson said. “After that I started making a couple of pars and I ended up with a 42 on the front. The back nine I started hitting my driver straight, finally. I just played it safe. I wasn’t going for any birdies, hitting sand wedge over traps, I just played it to the front of the green and go for the two-putt. It ended up working for a 37.”

Johnson was able to turn his driving woes around on the second nine.

“Actually, I have kind of a terrible way to fix it,” Johnson said of his driving. “I was kind of trying to swing smooth on the front and I’ve been trying to work with my tee shots lately. I just started swinging hard on the back, which is not the best fix, but I guess it worked for me. You get the holes with the wind and you throw it up high like that, it’s going to go a long ways.”

Adam Eisenmenger finished with an 82 for the Eagles, followed by Jared Heger’s 85 and Thomas Elness’ 97.

Eichner finished with an 83 on the day, leading W-WG to a 349 and a second-place finish.

Both the Eagles and the Chargers will advance to the section meet Friday.

Jared Lindaman had an 86 for the Chargers, followed by Patrick Schweim (89) and Taylor Lindaman (91).

SWC and SWU tied for third with a 361, followed by Hills-Beaver Creek (369) and Adrian (392).

Dustin Oberloh and Phil Feikema each finished with an 88 for SWC, with Kaiser DeKam carding a 91. Bryce Schelhaas had a 94..

SWU was led by Brady Hall’s 81. Cory Pelzel finished with an 84, followed by Clay Salzwedel (97) and Jared Pomerenke (99).

Hall had a 44 on his first 9, but rallied for a 2-over 37 on his second.

“I started hitting a lot more putts that I wasn’t hitting on the first nine,” Hall said. “I got confidence back in my driver; I wasn’t hitting it too great in the first nine.”

Hall was in a little trouble on his 18th hole.

Leaving himself a 35-foot for par, the junior needed a solid effort to save even a bogey.

He did better than that.

“I knew that it was going to go straight, so if I gave it a chance it was going to go in,” Hall said. “So I hit it, and if it didn’t hit the hole, it was going to go 10 feet by.”

Instead of rolling by, Hall drained the putt, sealing his place individually at the section meet.

“It was a really good feeling when you end a round like that,” Hall said. “I wish I could have shot better the first nine, but there’s always sections.”

RRC was led by Matt Fox’s 89. Collin Nickel and Jordan Smith each fired a 92, while George Rogotzke had a 95.

Caleb Ellingson had an 86 to lead H-BC. Andrew Scholten had a 93, while Caleb Schroer and Travis Helgeson each fired a 95.

Brian Tjepkes led Adrian with an 89. Zach Runia had a 92, while Brendon Kopplow (101) and Alex Elias (110) each had scoring rounds for the Dragons.

Hall, Pelzel, Ellingson, Oberloh, Feikema, Tjepkes, Fox and DeKam will each advance individually to the section meet.

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