Area golfers have mixed results at state tournament

COON RAPIDS – Trey Dale finished tied for 20th after the first day of the MSHSL Class AAA Boys State Golf Tournament, held Tuesday at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids.

The Bemidji senior, who finished tied for 23rd place last season with a 152 overall, shot a 77 on the first day, firing a 38 on the east course and 39 on the west course.

“There was some good and some bad,” Bemidji golf coach Seth Knudson said. “It’s not exactly how he wanted to do on the first day, but it wasn’t bad either.”

Knudson said that the highlight of Dale’s afternoon was a 60-foot eagle on the No. 4 hole of the east course.

“That was really fun to watch,” Knudson said.

But there were still some things Dale could have done better.

“Yeah, he definitely hit some shots he could have taken back,” Knudson said. “But if golf was easy then it wouldn’t be this fun.”

In last season’s state tournament, Dale shot the same score of 77 the first day, with a 37 on the east and a 40 on the west. He finished the tournament shooting a 38 and 37, respectively, to close out the tournament.

Dale and the rest of the field will be chasing Chaska’s Jon Dutoit. Dutoit shot a 35-34-69 on day one of the tournament.

Dale will kick off the second day of the tournament today at approximately 12:39 p.m. on the west course. He’ll be paired with Owatonna’s Peter Jones, Eden Prairie’s Max Rosenthal and Woodbury’s Nate Warham, all of whom sport identical scores of 77.

Moorhead is the overall team leader after day one with a combined score of 302; Minnetonka is close with 304.

CLASS A

BECKER – In Class A action, held at Pebble Creek in Becker, Cass Lake-Bena’s Dakotah Brunelle was tied for 12th overall. He shot a 37 on the east course and 42 on the west for a combined score of 79 on the par 72 course.

The other area golfer in the boys Class A meet is Red Lake’s Rob McNeal, who was still hanging in after the first day. His 45-40-85 score was tied for 39th place overall.

Both area golfers are looking up at Martin County West’s Cordell Weber, who shot 35-36-71.

McNeal will tee off at 11:52 a.m. today on Pebble Creek’s “Red” course while Brunelle will tee off at 12:16 p.m., also on the “Red.”

On the girls’ side, Red Lake’s Daisey Mondragon had a tougher afternoon. The sophomore was in 78th place after shooting 64-54-118.

Mondragon is set to begin day two bright and early at 7:30 a.m. on the “Red” course.

Rachel Gray of Legacy Christian Academy paced the Class A girls meet with a score of 41-41 82.

CLASS AA

JORDAN – The lone area competitor in Class AA was Bagley’s Aaron Leintz.

Leintz was in striking distance of the top ten after day one of the Class AA meet, held at The Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan.

The junior shot 37-38-75 to tie for 18th place.

Leading the pack in boys Class AA is Detroit Lakes’ Karter Smith, who shot a cool 34-33-67 on the first day.

Detroit Lakes was also atop the team leaderboard, with a combined score of 291.

Leintz will tee off day two at approximately 12:27 p.m. on course No. 1 at The Ridges.