Bearcat girl’s golf team finish third at Sub-section tournament

By Coach Diane Younggren
The KCC Bearcat Girls’ Golf team finished third at the North Sub-section tournament in Roseau on Tuesday, May 20. A strong Riverside Christian team nudged them out of advancing as the No. 2 team to the Section 8 Tournament. All the Bearcat golfers posted individual scores that qualified them to advance as individual golfers.
On Monday, May 26, the five girls traveled to Bemidji with high hopes and determination to put their best games together for Section 8 tournament play. The weather and course conditions for the practice round and day of competition were ideal. The practice round found the girls making improvements to their shots and becoming comfortable with their shooting even though half of the team had not played this Bemidji course before.
Day 1 of competition did not go as well for the Bearcat Ladies as was hoped. At the nine-hole turn scores were definitely not where we hoped but certainly still showing the possibility of a competitive finish. Kasey Waling led the team after 18 holes with a 99. This round found Kasey in the hunt for one of the five individuals that would be going on to the state tournament. She was followed by Kealy Preble with a 109, Saydi Olsonawski, 110; MacKenzie Casper, 117 and Ellie Bernstrom, 126.
Day 2 of the tournament challenged the stamina and nerves of the group. They came with the goal of bettering their scores from the day before. For some of them, their goals were accomplished but others found themselves scrambling to regain focus and work through some tough shots on a very difficult Bemidji course and final scores found the girls short of their goals. Kasey was a bit unsteady at the start but soon settled into scores that kept her in the hunt. However, her second 9 of the day brought back the inconsistency that in the end found her 7 strokes shy of the cutoff to advance. Her day 2 score was a 101 with a two-day total of 199. Other Day 2 Bearcat scores were Saydi, 103; MacKenzie, 111; Kealy, 136, and Ellie, 123.
These girls have proven they have what it takes to compete at this level of competition. The whole team will return next season and are already looking forward to making the changes we need next year and setting our goal of getting back to the section tourney with a stronger finish.