The Becker girls golf team continued its dominance of the Mississippi8 Conference last week, while the boys team is starting to show improvement by lowering its scores.

Last Thursday, the girls traveled to North Branch and once again came out as the undisputed winners, shooting a round of 377, a full 17 shots better than second place Monticello.

Round scores for the Bulldogs included: Ashley Reed 89 (2nd overall), Alexa Voller 93 (4th overall), Emma Benson 96 (5th overall), Layla Mathews 99 (9th overall), Kylee Rick 105 and Gretchen Graftaas 111.

Last Friday, Becker traveled to the Grand National course in Hinckley and finished in second place despite some tough weather conditions.  The scorecard listed 45 degree weather with light rain and southernly winds of 10-15 MPH.

“We were looking forward to the competition in Hinckley,” Coach Anna Babler said.  “We went into the meet knowing STMA would be tough to beat but I am so proud of these girls because they are so dedicated.”

Becker shot a very consistent round of 376, while STMA finished at the top with 351 strokes.  Cambridge-Isanti was third with a score of 391.

“Alexa Voller really showed her true colors this week shooting a 93 [Thursday] and 94 [Friday],” Babler said.  “I have had the pleasure of watching these girls improve over the last few years and each and every one of our girls have stepped up when up needed.”

Leading the Bulldogs was Gretchen Graftaas, who finished in 6th place with a round of 92.  Other scores included: Emma Benson 92 (9th place), Alexa Voller 94 (10th), Mathews 98 (18th), Rick 99 (20th) and Avery Johnson 109.  

“It is exciting to see and I’m proud to be by their side,” Babler added.  “I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings.”

Boys

Last Thursday, the boys team had a M8 meet at Bulrush golf course in North Branch and finished with the second lowest score (the team took third on a tie breaker).

“We got a little bit of our bite back,” Coach Dan Olson said.  “Zach [Stanz] and Matthew [Martindale] both played really well, carding their low rounds of the season and while Ethan [Tobako] had a few bad holes, he still turned in a solid round.”

Bulldog scores included: Stanz 75, Martindale 81, Tobako 86, Tucker Rhodes 93, Brock Ramola 95 and Brayden Graning 96.

Friday, the boys wanted to try out the golf course that hosts Sections so they had a dual meet at Rich Springs Course against Moorhead.  Moorhead is a solid team and their #1 player carded a round of 68 en route to a team score of 316.  The Bulldogs played 

“We played okay, shooting a 346,” Olson said.  “Tucker carded his low round of year and the other guys played some good golf, but we are still plagued by a few blow up holes here and there.”

Becker scores:  Stanz 81, Rhodes 85, Graning 89, Ramola 91, Martindale 93 and Tobako 95.

Monday the boys were back in Mississippi8 action in Monticello for the third conference meet and the team again faced terrible conditions with temperatures in the 40’s, along with wind and rain.

Becker took 6th place and dropped to fifth place overall in conference with its round of 341.  

Becker was led by Martindale’s round of 81.