Senior leadership to play a key role in Midgets golf season

• Tanner Halter

Press File Photo Dickinson High senior Tanner Halter returns as a state-tournament qualifier. The Class A boys golf season gets under way next week.

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The Dickinson High boys golf team doesn’t have Jarl Abrahamson to rely on anymore.

Instead, the Midgets are looking to three seniors and a junior to take the lead this spring.

“The three seniors are really going to step up well in the leadership roles,” Dickinson head coach Sara Berglund said. “You can tell they want to take on that leadership role. They want to be that consistent scorer that we need and can count on all the time.”

The prime suspects to shoot those low scores are seniors Tanner Halter, Luke Hanel and Austin Fournier, along with junior Shay Ridl.

Halter said with the absence of Abrahamson, last year’s West Region champion who now golfs for Bismarck State College, the team is going to immediately force everyone to step up to improve on last year’s 10th-place finish at the Class A state tournament.

“We aren’t going to have one guy that’s going to consistently shoot 74 or 75,” Halter said. “We’re all going to have to be able to shoot lower scores.”

Ridl knows it’s will be difficult to fill Abrahamson’s shoes, but said work put in during the offseason should pay dividends down the line.

“I’ve working on my short game during the offseason because it’s important for scoring well,” Ridl said. “We took a couple trips to Bismarck to the dome and worked with some professionals up there.”

The three seniors have also put in time during the winter and summer months to be ready to take on greater responsibilities. Halter even has a little putting green in his basement.

“It’s been nice out here,” Halter said. “I’m getting to the rec center and getting into the simulator there. Just getting all the swings in you can.”

The biggest motivation for the Midgets this season is that they will host the West Region golf tournament and the Class A state golf tournament at Heart River Golf Course.

They open up the season at home, too, hosting the Dickinson Invitational at 10 a.m. Friday, April 20.

“We definitely need to work hard and utilize the fact that we have the home course,” Berglund said. “We need to practice as much as possible to make sure we make it to the state tournament.”

All four players have West Region and state tournament experience, but as Halter put it, everyone still has to card quality scores.

“We have pretty good experience,” Halter said. “We just have to go out and prove it.”

The weather has helped the Midgets, along with every team in the West. Berglund is glad snow isn’t covering the ground.

“There’s no snow on the ground. We are happy,” Berglund said with a laugh. “They were able to actually golf before our first official practice, which doesn’t happen often.”

Tags: high school golf, dickinson midgets, sports, golf