SOUTH HEART -- If any day typified a typical spring day in North Dakota, Thursday was it.
Unfortunately for the boys high school golfers who played in the Heart River Invitational at the Pheasant County Golf Course in South Heart, it wasn't the greatest conditions to play golf in.
Dickinson Trinity outlasted the field as it beat second-place Hazen by nine strokes in taking the team title. Trinity won with a 342 score.
"You don't go in with the highest expectations, especially with the weather the way it was," Trinity head coach Brock Cuskelly said. "The guys gutted it out and did what it took."
It helped that the Titans had three golfers in the top seven.
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New Salem senior Jared Kautzman won medalist honors with a 79 on the par 71 course.
Trinity senior Sam Hapip finished second with an 81 and New Salam junior Monte Nilsen was third with a score of 82.
"It was kind of the senior leadership we were looking for in him to grind out a good round," Cuskelly said of Hapip.
Hazen senior Conor Borud, the 2008 state Class B medalist, tied for fourth alongside Trinity sophomore Lance Pender, Trinity freshman Nathaniel Knopik and Bowman County senior John Lockert, who all shot an 83.
Borud said the first few rounds were the toughest before he started to adjust.
"To start off with that wind, it was pretty rough," Borud said. "The first four holes were dead into the win, but after that, it wasn't too bad."
Everyone had to adjust to the wind, with many golfers hitting off target.
"It was hard to keep the ball down and get it to stick," Pender said.
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With every golfer with the exception of Kautzman scoring in the 80s, Cuskelly said it was a matter of staying focused despite the tough conditions.
"The best way to put it is to grind it out," Cuskelly said. "You're going to get a bad score on a day like today, so you just have to make some birdies and pars, and get it done."
