Mist can't keep three golfers from state

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

LE SUEUR -- There were more than a few surprised people when scores went up at the Section 2A golf meet Tuesday at the Le Sueur Country Club.

Among those surprised were Sleepy Eye St. Mary's seniors Garret Soukup and Christy Schroepfer and Cedar Mountain's Tracy Larson -- all three made the cut to make the trip to the state tournament June 9 and 10 in Onamia.

Because of persistent misty weather and intermittent rain, scores were generally higher than many had anticipated.

For the boys, St. Peter's Jason Rossow was medalist with 75, second and third place were 77 and 79, and three tied at 81 for fifth place, including Soukup. St. Peter was the top team (321). The top team and the first five individuals advance to the state tournament.

Soukup wasn't too pleased with how he played, but he couldn't complain about the outcome.

"It wasn't very pretty, but I got it done," Soukup said. Soukup tied with United South Central's Tyler Pederson and Bethlehem Academy's Jake Budde. "That was my goal this year, to get to state. It wasn't pretty, but I made it."

Soukup had a strong drive on No. 12 that set up a birdie for him and got him started on the back nine. But things didn't stay the way he wanted them to.

"I tried to do too much on the last couple of holes," Soukup said. "I thought the cut would be lower -- that's why I started doing too much."

Soukup knew that he was getting a higher score than he had hoped, so he tried to cut his strokes toward the end. But it had the reverse effect.

"I was going at the ball a little too hard," he said. "I lost control, basically. I couldn't get a putt to fall for me either. It was kind of a frustrating day for me."

Schroepfer also felt a little frustrated, going from her 42 score to 50 on the second nine.

"I think I got tired, was the main thing," Schroepfer said. "I couldn't hit the long ones anymore and got into trouble with hazards and stuff."

Players were trying to carry umbrellas or towels in attempt to keep things dry, which also contributed to the frustration.

Schroepfer was pleasantly surprised with her second place finish after Blue Earth Area's Macie Anderson, who medaled with an 85.

"I thought I'd maybe just sneak by," she said. "I'm surprised that I did that well."

Fairmont's Amanda Rosol was third with 93, Bethany Academy's Megan Budde was fourth (94), and Larsen tied for fifth with BEA's Kendal Nowak at 95.

"It's probably one of my best [scores]," Larsen said. "Most of it was just luck. I had some very bad holes and some very good holes. It was an interesting day."

The Knights girls also competed as a team in the meet, coming in second with a score of 404. Along with Schroepfer's 92, Shelly Langer had 101, Katherine Berkner had 102 and Laura Huiras shot 109. BEA was first with 383.

"We were fighting for second," Schroepfer said. "As a team, I'm proud of how we did -- it's good for the weather. We wanted to do our best, because Blue Earth is really good."

"For the conditions, we did okay," Langer said. "We all certainly could have docked a couple of strokes here and there, but we did okay."

Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop was third with a 418. Brittany Kiecker shot a 100, Roxanna Miller had 101, Kelsey Marquardt had 102 and Sarah Radtke finished with 115.

For complete results, please see the scoreboard section on Page 2B.