Midgets far out of 1st place, but still pleased

• Rachel Jahner

Courtesy Photo by Kari Jahner Dickinson junior Rachel Jahner watches a putt on Monday during the first round of the Class A state girls golf tournament at Prairie West Golf Course in Mandan.

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MANDAN — The Dickinson girls golf team is pleased with its position after the first day of the Class A state tournament at Prairie West Golf Course.

For the first time this season, the Midgets had its top four all finish with scores under 100 while juniors Rachel Jahner and Riana Cooper are still competing for medalist honors, though they have a lot of ground to make up.

“Now that they have that first day under their belt, we’re hoping to go out and improve a little bit,” Dickinson head coach Sara Berglund said.

Jahner is tied for eighth after shooting an 11-over-par 83. Cooper is tied for 12th with an 86.

Fargo North senior Annie Twells carded a 77 to take a two-stroke lead over Kathleen Marsh of Fargo Davies and Sierra Bennion of Jamestown.

The Midgets shot a 363 team score, one stroke off of their best score this season but easily their best performance considering the length of the course.

Dickinson shot a 362 at Tom O’Leary Golf Course in Bismarck and a 363 at Apple Creek Country Club in rural Bismarck earlier this season. Prairie West is the longest course of the three with Apple Creek coming up 400 yards shorter and Tom O’Leary measuring out at more than 1,300 yards shorter.

“We were right on that edge,” Berglund said. “Today we had some girls really step up and came up for us huge.”

Davies, with all four of its scoring golfers shooting below an 86, leads the team race with a 330. Bismarck Century and North are tied for second at 343.

Rachel Lantz had a 95 and Sydney Charchenko shot a 99 out of the No. 6 spot to help the Midgets to fourth place after the first day. Also, Katherine Kessel shot a 105 and Kelsey Yon a 125 for the Midgets.

“We put ourselves in a great spot,” Berglund said. “We played pretty well, but there’s still room for improvement.”

Berglund said the hope is that Jahner, and possibly even Cooper, make a run at finishing inside the top five with Jahner trying to make up ground for a shot at medalist.

“Anything can happen on any given day,” Berglund said. “She’s hitting the ball well and striking the ball well. Her short game is good. She had a couple of tough holes, but she battled back and finished strong.”

The tournament concludes with the second round that begins at 9:30 a.m. CDT Tuesday.

Class A state tournament

At Prairie West Golf Course, Mandan

Team scores: 1. Fargo Davies 330. 2. (tie) Century and Fargo North 343. 4. Dickinson 363. 5. (tie) Grand Forks Red River and West Fargo 393. 7. Jamestown 390. 8. (tie) Minot and Wahpeton 393. 10. Mandan 406. 11. Fargo Shanley 411. 12. Grand Forks Central 414..

Individual Top 5: 1, Annie Twells, FN, 41-36–77. 2 (tie), Sierra Bennion, J, 39-40–79 and Kathleen Marsh, FD, 38-41–79. 4 (tie), Ashley Bixby, WF, 42-38–80, and Alex Woken, FD, 43-37–80.

By Team

Fargo Davies (330): Kathleen Marsh 79, Alex Woken 80. Jennifer Marsh 85, Allyson Meyer 86, Bailey Gemar 87, Amber Kosir 106.

Century (343): Alex Leidholm 81, Annie Nelson 84, Lauren Bischof 89, Lindsay Reede 89, Alex Hopkins 90, Bri Flynn 97.

Fargo North (343): Annie Twells 77, Addie Long 83, Kenzie Jenson 90, Hanna Berg 93, Keely Spiess 99, Abby Sklebar 106.

Dickinson (363): Rachel Jahner 83, Riana Cooper 86, Rachel Lantz 95, Sydney Charchenko 99, Katherine Kessel 104, Kelsey Yon 125.

G.F. Red River (376): Cali Halverson 89, Alexis Caoili 93, Betsy Seaver 94, Casey DeBeltz 100, Morgan Hetletved 105, Hilary Whalen 105.

West Fargo (376): Ashley Bixby 80, Brittany Rheault 96, Kennedy Kraft 97, Ashley Peterson 103, Sierra Peterson 103, McCall Brown 109.

Jamestown (390): Sierra Bennion 79, Maria LeFevre 97, Sarah Azure 106, Kaitlin Mullowney 108, Savannah Kramlich 112, Mara LeFevre 129.

Minot (393): Haili Duchscherer 86, Makensy Arlien 97, McKinley Bender 99, Paige Argent 101, Hallie Williamson 108, Evie Reynolds 113.

Wahpeton (393): Savannah Haselhorst 87, Kelsey Darwin 95, Leslie Hibl 103, Morgan Strand 108, Emma Rubish 112, Kelsey Breuer 134.

Mandan (406): Sydnie Mongeon 95, Kayla Helbling 100, Brianne Hirchert 104, Megan Broeckel 107, Devon Comeau 111, KayCee Schulz 118.

Fargo Shanley (411): Abby Armstrong 99, Katey Wold 103, Marcela Hanson 104, Payton Thimjon 105, Aly Corbid 109, Grace Dietz 118.

G.F. Central (414): Kaylin Anderson 100, Alizjah Swenson 102, Samantha Marshall 103, Shaylee Ferguson 109, Jessica Fairley 112, Jordan Reiter 113.

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