Girls' golf: Minnewaska increases its lead in West Central South Conference race; Knight girls compete in HOL

• Falk

Eric Morken, Echo Press Minnewaska senior Sam Falk watched her shot off the second tee box at the Alexandria Invite last week. Falk is one of the latest in a long list of golfers who have helped establish the Lakers as a dynasty in Minnesota high school golf in the last five years.

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The Minnewaska Lakers rebounded from their first loss since 2006, dominating their West Central South Conference girls’ golf meet last Thursday with a 22-stroke victory.

Led by senior Sam Falk’s medalist-winning 39, the Lakers put three players in the top five of the meet, and three more not far behind.

Brianna Janu carded a 41 to tie for second place, while Jenna Janu was fourth with a 42.

Alexis Guggisberg, Ellen Stensrud and Jamie Smith all came in at 49.

This was the opening conference meet in a season that has been pushed back due to weather.

WEST CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE

GIRLS’ GOLF-OLIVIA

TEAM SCORES – 1. Minnewaska 171, 2. BOLD 193, 3. Montevideo 196, 4. Morris 218, 5. Benson/KMS 227, 6. Paynesville 228, 7. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 244, 8. Lac qui Parle Valley 249, 9. Yellow Medicine East 255.

MEDALIST – Sam Falk, Minnewaska, 39.

MINNEWASKA – 2. Brianna Janu 41, 4. Jenna Janu 42, Alexis Guggisberg 49, Ellen Stensrud 49, Jamie Smith 49.

lAKERS WIN AT ATWATER

The Minnewaska girls’ golf team showed off its depth again on Monday as it ran away with another West Central South meet at the Island Pine Golf Course in Atwater.

The Lakers made up the top-five individual scores on their way to a team score of 160. That was 34 shots lower than second-place Montevideo.

Brianna Janu led the way with a medalist round of 37. Sam Falk was right behind her with a 39, while Jenna Janu and teammate Alexis Guggisberg tied for third with a 42 to round out the scoring. Minnewaska’s Jamie Smith tied for fifth with a 44.

ACGC INVITE

TEAM RESULTS – 1. Minnewaska – 160; 2. Montevideo – 194; 3. BOLD – 206; 4. Morris-Chokio-Alberta – 218; 5. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City – 236; 6. Paynesville – 239; 7. Lac qui Parle Valley – 250; 8. Yellow Medicine East – 252; 9. Benson-KMS – 253

MINNEWASKA SCORES – B. Janu – 37, medalist; Falk – 39; J. Janu – 42; Guggisberg – 42

MINNEWASKA WINS AT MORRIS

Sam Falk’s 3-over-par 39 helped boost the Minnewaska girls’ golf team to another West Central South Conference win Tuesday night.

The Lakers’ victory at Morris was their 31st straight conference win – 41st if you add in their West Central North Conference stint.

Montevideo, the runner-up team, finished 36 shots behind.

Minnewaska put all four scoring players in the top five as Jenna Janu and Brianna Janue tied with BOLD’s Chloe Althmann for second with 40, and Alexis Guggisberg finished fifth with a 42.

WEST CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE

GIRLS’ GOLF AT MORRIS

TEAM SCORES – 1. Minnewaska 161, 2. Montevideo 197, 3. BOLD 207, 4. Morris-CA 240, 5. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 244, 6. Lac qui Parle Valley 246, 7. Yellow Medicine East 265, 8. Benson/KMS 265.

MEDALIST – Sam Falk, Minnewaska, 39.

MINNEWASKA – 1. Falk 39, 2. Jenna Janu and Brianna Janu 40, 5. Alexis Guggisberg 42.

WEST CENTRAL AREA FOURTH IN HOL MEET

The West Central Area girls’ golf team got a solid round from Megan Keep to help the Knights finish fourth at the Heart O’ Lakes Conference tournament in Frazee on Tuesday.

Keep was fourth individually with a 45. Perham’s Holly Karkela and Kaylan Huber were first and second, respectively, with rounds of 42 and 43. Keep’s round led the Knights to a team score of 200.

“Our goal for the evening was to place in the top four teams, and we did it,” head coach Kari Kreft said.

Megan Amundson was close behind Keep with a 47. Marissa Hayward and Tiffany Boysen rounded out the scoring for WCA with rounds of 54.

Perham continued its dominance of the HOL with another first-place finish.

FRAZEE INVITE

TEAM SCORES – 1. Perham – 182; 2. Hawley-UH – 184; 3. Pelican Rapids – 197; 4. West Central Area – 200; 5. Barnesville – 207; 6. DGF – 215; 7. Frazee – 242; 8. Breckenridge – 290

WCA SCORES – Keep – 45; Amundson – 47; Hayward – 54; Boysen – 54; Tayler Christenson – 58; Tiana Christenson – 64

knights seventh

The West Central Area girls’ golf team finished seventh at the Pelican Rapids Invite last Friday with one of their top seniors out of the lineup.

Megan Keep was forced to miss the meet because of sickness. The Knights responded with a team score of 451, 13 shots away from sixth-place finisher Wadena.

“We were glad to see the sun,” head coach Kari Kreft said. “But the wind really took a lot out of us. You could tell that it was our first 18-hole meet. We started out strong but then got tired as the day went on.”

Megan Amundson battled the almost 30 mile-per-hour winds to lead the Knights with a 108. Freshman Tiana Christenson was right behind with a 110, while Tiffany Boysen and Tayler Christenson carded a 116 and 117, respectively.

“The goal is to learn to overcome a big hole when we have one and focus on our good shots,” Kreft said. “We were able to stay out of the sand traps and prairie grass for the most part. That is always a challenge at Wildflower.”

Perham won the event with a team score of 370. Holly Karkela led that charge with a medalist round of 87.

PELICAN RAPIDS INVITE

TEAM RESULTS – 1. Perham – 370; 2. Hawley – 395; 3. Pelican Rapids – 404; 4. Detroit Lakes JV – 410; 5. Barnesville – 411; 6. Wadena – 438; 7. WCA – 451; 8. DGF – 457; 9. Frazee – 519; 10. Pelican Rapids White – Inc.

WCA SCORES – Megan Amundson – 108; Tayler Christenson – 117; Tiana Christenson – 110; Tiffany Boysen – 116; Marissa Hayward – 127

Tags: minnewaska sports, area sports, west central area sports, sports, girls, golf