The Becker girls and boys golf teams are entering their final weeks of competition and are being led by Ashley Reed and Zach Stanz, who each have shown the ability to place among the top golfers in the M8 Conference.
Reed currently sits in second place overall in the girls’ regular season M8 competition, while Stanz currently posts scores good enough for third place in the boys division.
Girls
The girls team continues to march towards a M8 title, despite finishing second place last Wednesday at Purple Hawk course in Cambridge.
“It was a tough night at Purple Hawk, as we took second place, losing by four strokes to Cambridge-Isanti who had the advantage of their home course,” Coach Anna Babler said.
Wednesday’s meet was the first time Becker had not placed first in conference play this season, but they still are in control with one conference meet left.
At Purple Hawk, Reed led the team with a round of 88 (second place overall), followed by Emma Benson (93), Alexa Voller (93), Gretchen Graftaas (100), Layla Mathews (101), and Kylee Rick (106).
Babler also provided an update on the conference individual standings and they show that the Bulldogs are running away from the competition, as all the Becker golfers are in the top third in the conference.
“There are a total of 45 girls competing in our conference.,” Babler said. “It is exciting to see all of our girls in the top 15!”
Besides Reed, who sits in second overall, Benson is in seventh place and Voller ranks eighth.
Princeton
Monday night, the girls were back in their familiar first place finish with a dominating performance at Princeton. Becker carded a round of 350 strokes, while the second place Bluejackets were 27 shots behind in second place with a round of 377.
“It was a team best score and individual best scores for Gretchen, Ashley and Kylee, our three seniors on the team,” said Babler.
Becker scores for the conference win were: Reed 85 (third place), Benson 88 (fifth place), Graftaas 88 (sixth place), Rick 89 (seventh place), Voller 95, Mathews 99.
Pre-Section
Last Friday, the Bulldogs traveled to Park Rapids for the pre-section competition and came away in fifth place out of the 11 teams.
Babler expected some tough competition at the meet and the team was a bit shorthanded as Reed missed the trip.
As Babler predicted, Alexandria came away with the win, carding an impressive 318 strokes, while the Bulldogs came in with a score of 376.
“This was our first time golfing at this course,” added Babler.
Scores for the Bulldogs included: Benson (85), Mathews (94), Graftaas (98), Voller (99), Avery Johnson (104), and Rick (109).
Next week the Bulldogs head to Chisago Lakes to compete in their last conference meet of the season.
Boys
Last Wednesday, the Bulldogs boys team traveled to play the Classic at Madden’s and took seventh out of 12 teams with a round of 352. Moorhead finished in first place with a round of 307.
“It was a beautiful day for golf as it was probably the nicest day of our season,” Coach Dan Olson said. “The Classic has trouble on every hole and it is probably the toughest course we play all year.”
Stanz paced the team with a round of 84, and his teammates also put forth some great efforts.
“Tucker [Rhodes} played some great golf for the majority of his round ending up with an 87, despite having four doubles on his card,” Olson said. “Matthew [Martindale] had five doubles on his card, but played his last five holes even to card an 89.”
Brayden Graning rounded out the final score for the Bulldogs with a respectable 93.
Olson and his squad were happy to get in a few needed practices in the early part of this week, as they were scheduled for four days of competition in a row, starting Wednesday in Cambridge. Thursday, they hosted a quad with Cambridge, Monti and Princeton, while Friday and Saturday they were to play Town and Country Club (Bemidji) and Headwaters (Park Rapids). The team will wrap up their M8 season at Princeton on Monday.
Look for complete details in next week’s Patriot.
