2 all-staters to lead Dickinson girls golf team

• Riana Cooper

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson junior Riana Cooper putts Sept. 5 at Heart River Golf Course. Cooper along with junior Rachel Jahner return a solid group of young veterans to the Dickinson High School golf team, which starts Monday at East-West Classic at the Jamestown Country Club.

Talk about it

Dickinson High’s new girls golf coach is happy about how things are progressing as the team prepares for the 2012 season.

The best part?

“The weather is a lot better in the fall than it is in the spring,” Dickinson head coach Sara Berglund said.

Berglund, who coaches the Midgets’ boys golf team in the spring, enters her first season as the girls team’s coach.

She inherits a young group led by returning all-state juniors Riana Cooper and Rachel Jahner.

Cooper was second in the state in average score per round last season at 81.1 and Jahner was seventh in the standings at 82.8.

Jahner and Cooper finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in last season’s West Region Tournament that the Midgets lost by just one stroke.

“They’ve been hitting the ball really well at practice.” Berglund said. “Having that experience and talent returning sets us up for a good season, hopefully.”

Behind Cooper and Jahner, the Midgets are inexperienced to say the least.

Sophomores Rachel Lantz and Jill Mueller golfed in most varsity meets for Dickinson last season while junior Megan Arneson and freshman Katherine Kessel played with the team’s six varsity golfers in a handful of meets.

“I’m hoping with the girls we have returning, we’ll be able to find four other players who are willing to step into those roles and step up to the varsity level,” Berglund said.

The Midgets will be without a full team when they attend the East-West Classic at the Jamestown Country Club next Monday and Tuesday to open the season.

Berglund said the short amount of practice time afforded to the team before the meet, coupled with the late arrival of a handful of experienced players, will see the Midgets taking just five players to the tournament.

But she’s fine with that.

“I just figured I’d start from scratch and see who was out there and see what we were working with and go from there,” Berglund said. “We’ll wait and see, when these other girls get back, who is going to make varsity. It’ll probably take some time to figure out where we’re playing at.”

Tags: rachel jahner, riana cooper, dickinson midgets, sports, golf, preps