Two area girls’ golf teams are headed to the next level of the postseason following impressive performances in Monday’s district competition. Spirit Lake was one of eight teams playing in Carroll for the Class 3A districts and posted a team record 351 total to finish in first place. Carroll was second with a 378. Senior Maureen Owens shot the low round of the day with an 81 to grab medalist honors. Emily Ayers fired an 86 to finish in fifth place individually. The Indians also received a 91 from Whitney Berkland and a 93 by Leah Hilpipre. Spirit Lake will attempt to qualify for the state tournament next week Monday when they participate in the regional in Storm Lake.
The Okoboji Pioneers are also moving on the regionals after finishing second in their Class 2A district meet held in Sheldon. Sioux Center won the event with a 389 and Okoboji tallied an even 400. Estherville-Lincoln Central tied for third with a 456 and Sibley-Ocheyedan wound up sixth. Kiley Wermersen’s round of 91 put her in first place as the meet medalist. Hannah Jones lost a playoff to finish in fourth with a 95. The Pioneers also counted a 101 from Kristina Kaiser and a 113 by Halee Morrow. Okoboji will now play in the Emmetsburg regional on Monday of next week to try and qualify for state.
The Class 1A district meet held in Hawarden saw Harris-Lake Park register a 471 team total to finish eighth. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn posted a 439 team score to grab fifth place. West Sioux and Remsen Union went 1-2 to qualify for regionals. At the regional in Newell, both Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire and Clay Central-Everly were unable to compete as a team. No area golfers qualified for regionals as individuals in Class 1A.
In other golf action, the Siouxland Conference hosted its final conference meet for the boys’ teams in Sheldon and crowned MOC-Floyd Valley as it 2011 champion. The meet itself was won by Rock Valley who finished second in the overall standings. Sibley-Ocheyedan took third in both the meet and the standings, while Okoboji was sixth in the meet with a 179 total, just 19 strokes back. The Pioneers wound up in fourth place for the year. James Halbur set the pace with a 40 to lead Okoboji and take fourth in the meet. He also earned first-team all-conference honors. For the meet, the Pioneers also counted a 42 by Weston Bergeson, Ryan Clark’s 48 and a 49 from Tanner Taylor. Tyler Ohl did not compete on Monday, but did well enough during the season to earn second-team all-conference honors.
