Record round: Trinity sets school record with 297 to win Region 5 tourney

• Lance Pender

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson Trinity senior Lance Pender watches his shot off the No. 12 tee box at Pheasant Country Golf Course in South Heart on Tuesday. Pender shot a 72 to earn medalist honors at the Region 5 boys golf tournament and helped the Titans set a school record with a score of 297 to win the team championship.

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SOUTH HEART — Dickinson Trinity had been waiting all season for Connor Friske to do what he did Tuesday.

Friske, a sophomore, shot a 4-over-par 75 on Tuesday at Pheasant Country Golf Course.

While that was only good enough for a sixth-place finish, Friske’s score helped the Trinity boys golf team do something much greater: win the Region 5 championship while breaking a school record in the process.

The Titans broke a school record team score by six strokes, shooting a 297.

“I played really well, probably the best I’ve played all season,” Friske said. “It came at the right time.”

Senior Lance Pender earned medalist honors with a 72. He was also named Region 5 Senior Athlete of the Year.

Junior Nathaniel Knopik and eighth-grader Willy Jahner each shot 75, finishing fourth and fifth on tiebreaker rules, respectively.

It was Friske, however, whose career-best score put the Titans below 300 for the first time in team history.

Pender called it, “a perfect day.”

“Not a better time to do it than before state either,” he said. “We saved it for the last tournament and broke it pretty easy.”

The Class B state tournament is scheduled for May 29 and 30 at Oxbow Country Club south of Fargo.

Trinity’s record broke that of the 1998 team led by Tyler Reisenauer, who is ironically now the Titans’ head coach.

“They broke my record,” Reisenauer said with a laugh. “Bittersweet, right? Those guys are so happy. It’s the stuff we’ve been working on. We made a lot of changes with everybody this year. It took them a few tournaments to get comfortable and trust it.”

Heart River had a banner day as well, compiling a 311 to finish third and qualify for the Class B state tournament as a team.

Zach Miller led the Cougars with a runner-up, 2-over-par 73. Heart River head coach Jerry Perdaems was named Region 5 Coach of the Year.

“It’s great,” Miller said. “Everybody shot good today. It’s our home course, it’s kind of an advantage for us.”

The top three teams advanced to state, as did anyone that shot 7-over-par or better.

Beulah earned runner-up honors with a 309. Noah Iverson had a third-place score of 74 to lead the Miners.

Hazen missed the state tournament but qualified Mike Berg with a 76 and Josh Rothe with a 78. Brett Leier punched his ticket to state at an individual qualifying tournament.

Heart River’s Mitch Krebs and Beulah’s Zach Kessler and Derek Morris all would have qualified individually as each shot 78, but they qualified on the merits of their teams.

“Everyone played pretty well,” Pender said.

Region 5 Tournament

At Pheasant Country Golf Course, South Heart

Note: Top three teams and all golfers with a score of 78 and under qualified for Class B state tournament.

Team scores: Dickinson Trinity 297, Beulah 309, Heart River 311, Hazen 318, Beach 366, Killdeer 368, Bowman County 375, Glen Ullin-Hebron 389, Center-Stanton 398, Standing Rock-Selfridge 545.

Individual top 11 (all state qualifiers): 1, Lance Pender, Trinity, 72. 2, Zach Miller, HR, 72. 3, Noah Iverson, Beach, 74. 4, Nathaniel Knopik, Trinity, 75. 5, Willy Jahner, Trinity, 75. 6, Connor Friske, Trinity, 75. 7, Mike Berg, Hazen, 76. 8, Zach Kessler, Beulah, 78. 9, Derek Morris, Beulah, 78. 10, Josh Rothe, Hazen, 78. 11, Mitch Krebs, HR, 78.

Other finishers

Trinity (297): Jaret Lee 81, David Pokorny 86.

Beulah (309): Hunter Obrigewitch 79, Connor Candrian 84, Logan Obrigewitch 88.

Heart River (311): Joey Wagner 80, Colton Pool 80, Seth Keator 81, Preston Kubas 117.

Hazen (318): Brett Leier 81, Kyle Lindquist 83, Collin Lindquist 84, Casey Neameyer 87.

Beach (366): Jayce Huffman 82, Bobby Szudera 88, Ty Farstveet 96, Aaron Rolczynski 100, Alex Novotny 102, Kyle Bagley 103.

Killdeer (368): Brock Pittsley 82, Riley Rohde 92, Bubba Roshau 96, Garret Tabor 98, Cody Johnson 106.

Bowman County (375): Sheldon Maychrzak 87, Daulton Braaten 88, Brandon Orcutt 100, Jayden Hofland 100, Ryan Sime 113, Tracy Roemmich 132.

Glen Ullin-Hebron (389): Austin Wanner 94, Thomas Krizan 96, Logan Wehri 96, Tyler McCone 103, Tanner Hofer 123.

Center-Stanton (398): Brenden Sweeney 88, Lane Erhardt 101, Karson Backer 103, Jordon Hoffman 106, Logan Staigle 107.

Standing Rock-Selfridge (545): Josh Molash 119, Davis Fool Bear 129, Taran Fox 132, Tyrel Iron Eyes 162.

Southern McLean: Jack Zimmerman 81, Gunner Hyttinen 95, Tanner Due 119.

New Salem-Almont: Andrew Hulm, 86, Jake Engelter 90, Erik Kautzman 106.

Mott-Regent: Austin Kautzman 87, James Warner 95, Michael Warner 138.

Hettinger-Scranton: Denby Lveck 90, Tanner Stippich 96, Devin Faller 110.

Shiloh: Seth Keller 101, Hunter Aus 116, Conner Wentz 130.

Tags: high school golf, trinity titans, sports, golf