Boys win golf tourney, girls finish strong

The Whitefish boys and girls used the past week's Flatfish Tournament to tune up their games for the state tournament in Butte this week.

While the boys were winning the team title, the girls still finished strong enough to take second place behind the C.M. Russell High School team.

Sam Krause, Derek Denning, Tyler Holtet, Zac Wooten and Andre Groschupf helped the boys team come from behind on day two to pass the Flathead squad, which had posted a three-shot first-day lead.

When the dust settled on day one, Flathead's 307 held a slight margin over the Bulldogs, but the 'Dogs roared back to post a second-day score of 297 to win by 10 shots.

Holtet had the low round on the first day with a 71, while teammate Krause recorded a 73 over the South Course at Whitefish.

Holtet's even par round included three birdies and three bogies on the South Course.

Denning and Wooten had one of those first days you want to forget, with the ball bouncing in all the wrong places and often disappearing. Both recovered very well on Saturday at Buffalo Hills, with rounds of 68 and 79 respectively.

Krause won his fifth tournament of the year with a four-shot lead over Larry Iverson, of Flathead, and Jim Mee, from Libby. Krause, who has a stroke average of 72.5 for the year, posted 73-71 for the two days.

Holtet had a rough start at Buffalo Hills and finished with a 79 after going seven over on the first five holes. Holtet finished in fifth place just two shots ahead of Denning.

"Derek had a fantastic second day with five birdies on the way to a tournament low score of 68," said coach Terry Nelson.

Wooten hit the ball extremely well on day two, Nelson said, but he "couldn't buy a putt on the Buffalo Hill greens."

"He's a never give-up type of competitor, and I know he will finish strong at state in Butte," Nelson said.

Chelsea Ray posted scores of 81-89, which was good enough to capture fifth place in the Flatfish Tournament.

Freshman Breanna Cameron played steady golf and finished in seventh place with scores of 92-88.

Quinn Micklewright had a consistent, but fairly disappointing two-day total for the Lady Bulldogs. She was only a few shots out of the top 10 for the tournament.

Ashley Archer had a great first day, posting an 89 over the Village Greens course, where the girls played on Friday. Hillary Johann scored a 96 at Village Greens.

"The girls' 356 on the first day is the score we need to finish near the top at state this week," Nelson said. "I really believe the girls have the ability to finish in the top at state if they stay positive and focused."

Havre appears to be the team to beat at state for the girls and Hamilton could test the boy's team, he said.

The boys junior varsity players finished in 11th place in the field of 17 teams, led by Joel Mallams, Daniel Marcus, Ryan Zalucky, Sean Watterud and Zack Maassen. The JV team managed to beat all but two of the other Class A boys teams.

For the girls JV, Ellen Scheffer had a great two days with scores of 118 and 119. Nicole Schelling, playing only on Saturday, managed to post a competitive score of 103.

Tara Sullivan and Naomi Barrett-Lanier also competed on day two for the Lady Bulldogs and showed great promise as future players.