Northern golfers brave elements

Northern golfers brave elements
Ryan Divish
Havre Daily News Sports Editor
rdivish@havredailynews.com

The first Frontier Conference college golf tournament of the season is always a bit of a reminder for those competing that the sport isn't just a walk in the park at that level. Teams braved nasty cold and rainy weather on Monday and were rewarded with a day of sunshine on Tuesday at the Montana Tech Golf Invitational at the Butte Country Club.

The Montana State University-Northern women's golf team was able to field enough golfers to earn a team score. Despite finishing in last place in the team scores with 1,282, head coach Dave Boles, there were plenty of positives to take from the two days of golf.

"I learned a lot," Boles said of his first tournament as the Skylights golf coach. "That first day is tough playing 36 holes."

It was more difficult considering the weather was pretty nasty most of the day. Golfers had to endure an hour and half frost delay before taking to conditions that were far from ideal.

"The delay was tough because the girls were ready to play and then we had to sit around for awhile and wait," Boles said. "The girls were exposed to the elements for a little golf. It sets up for a long day."

Julie Wagner had the best first day, carding rounds of 97 and 94, while Anita Strommen had rounds of 94 and 102. Heather Riener fired a 101 and 100, while Heather Haas shot a 137 and 129.

"That's a lot of golf in one day," Boles said. "I thought the girls did well considering the elements."

Northern wrapped up the tournament on Tuesday with a solid showing. Wagner fired a team-best 88 on the final day to finish with a two-day total of 279. Strommen had a 99 to finish at 295, while Riener finished with a 113 for a total of 314 and Haas shot a 128 to finish at 394.

"Julie played pretty well, especially on the last day," Boles said. "Anita was pretty consistent and Heather Riener is very close to being right up there with Julie and Anita. I was happy to see that Heather Haas improved her scores with every round."

The girls tournament was won by Lewis-Clark State with a score of 984. Defending Frontier Conference champ Rocky Mountain College was second with a 1,011.

Nikki Olson of LC State shot rounds of 80, 77, and 78 to take medalist honors with a score of 235.

In the boys tournament, two Havre standouts had solid tournaments individually. Brothers Jason and Jon Johnstone both finished in the top 10 to lead Montana Tech to the boys title. The Orediggers had a total of 872, while second-place Lewis-Clark State had an 878.

Jason Johnstone, who transferred to Tech this year from Eastern New Mexico University, finished in a tie for fourth with David Nuhn of Lewis-Clark State at 216. He fired rounds of 67, 78 and 71. Jon Johnstone finished in sixth place at 217 with score of 74, 72 and 71.

Havre's Trent Normandy shot a 232 with rounds of 77, 80 and 75 for Miles Community College.

Teams will now prepare for the Carroll College Invitational that will be held this Monday and Tuesday in Helena.

"This tournament showed the girls some things that they need to work on this week," Boles said. "I think the big thing is building a little bit of stamina for that first day. It's tough to prepare for 36 holes in one day, especially with classes during the week.

After this tournament, they understand that they have to be mentally prepared to play a lot of golf the first day, no matter what the conditions."

Montana Tech Invitational

MEN

Team Results

1, Montana Tech 299-293-280 - 872; 2, Lewis-Clark State 295-292 - 291 - 878; 3, Rocky Mountain 288-301-293 - 882; 4, Westminster 298-308-303 - 909; 5, Montana Tech No. 2 303-325-303 - 932; 6, Miles CC 308-327-298 - 933; 7, UM-Western 314-309-315 - 938; 8, Carroll College 312-311-320 - 943; 9, Great Falls 411-417-378 - 1206.

Top 10 individuals

1. Kelbi Lee, RMC 70-72-71 - 213; 2. Jeff Smith, LCSC 69-73-72 - 214; 3. Mitch Evanecz, MT 75-74-66 - 215; 4 (tie). Jason Johnstone, MT 67-78-71 - 216; and David Nuhn, LCSC 72-74-70 - 216; 6. Jon Johnstone, MT 74-72-71 - 217; 7 (tie). Alex Bojanic, RMC 72-75-72 - 219; and Nik Arrenbrecht, LCSC 73-73-73 - 219; 9 (tie). Jon Sundberg, RMC 76-73-72 - 221; and 9. Steven Tyler, RMC 72-79-70 - 221.

Montana Tech (872) - Mitch Evanecz 75-74-66 - 215, Jon Johnstone 74-72-71 - 217, Byron Olson 75-75-72 - 222, Tyler Williams 78-71-73 - 222, Stephan Sedor 76-78-71 - 225.

Lewis-Clark State (878) - David Nuhn 72-74-70 - 216, Nik Arrenbrecht 73-73-73 - 219, Jeff Thoeny 75-74-76 - 225, Marc Vedder 80-71-75 - 226, Shawn Krahling 75-79-73 - 227.

Rocky Mountain College (882) - Kelbi Lee 70-72-71 - 213, Alex Bojanic 72-75-72 - 219, Steven Tyler 72-79-70 - 221, Matt Oja 93-82-80 - 255, Jacob Richards 74-75-DQ.

Westminster (909) - Tyler Wiscomb 79-74-71 - 224, Patrick Roeder 69-80-82 - 231, Adam Epson 78-81-73 - 232, Chad Rinderknecht 75-76-81 - 232, David Wintzer 76-78-78 - 232.

Montana Tech No. 2 (932) - Jason Johnstone 67-78-71 - 216, Tyler Lamb 76-84-77 - 237, Patrick O'Rourke 77-84-77 - 238, Jeff Wood 83-79-79 - 241.

Miles CC (933) - Logan Kugler 72-83-72 - 227, Trent Normandy 77-80-75 - 232, Chad Fowler 79-81-74 - 234, Adam Benson 80-83-77 - 240, Bo Stiles 95-86-84 - 265.

UM-Western (938) - Josh Shad 76-74-75 - 225, Danny Oberweiser 76-76-77 - 229, Casey Duschanek 79-78-80 - 237, Tanner Lagge 83-85-83 - 251, Tyler McCabe 87-81 84 - 252.

Carroll College (943) - Ryan Buls 79-76-79 - 234, Ben Waiss 78-79- 79 - 236, Brett Damaskos 78-80-79 - 237, John Beltrone 82-76-87 - 245, Chris King 77-87-83 - 247.

Great Falls (1,206) - Alan Ramorini 79-75-74 - 228, Jay Hardesty 77-92-86 - 255, Lance Wilson 89-88-89 - 266, Mike Graham 167-162-128 - 457.

EXTRAS - Jeff Smith, LCSC 69-73-72 - 214; Jon Sundberg, RMC 76-73-72 - 221; Blake Amberson, LCSC 73-75-76 - 224; Jason Humphrey, LCSC 75-77-73 - 225; Jared Atkins, RMC 76-76-73 - 225; John Galt, RMC 79-80-76 - 235; Tyson Henderson, UMW 83-84-79 - 246; Marcus Erickson, UMW 86-82-83 - 251; Lee Lunsford, UMW 81-91-90 - 262.

WOMEN

Team Results

1, Lewis-Clark State 334-333-317 - 984; 2, Rocky Mountain 345-336-330 - 1011; 3, UM-Western 372-370-364 - 1106; 4, Carroll College 390-383-369 - 1142; 5, Montana Tech 414-415-393 - 1222; 6, MSU-Northern 429-425-428 - 1282; Miles CC 418-406-No final score; Westminster-no team score; Great Falls-no team score.

Top 10 individuals

1, Nikki Olson, LCSC 80-77-78 - 235; 2, Rachel Warren, RMOP 78-84-77 - 239, Chantell Beveridge-LCSC 82-85-80 - 247; 4, Carlie Breen, RMC 91-83-78 - 252; 5, Samara Kluever, LCSC 84-86-86 - 256; 6, Sable Hamilton, RMC 91-86-80 - 257; 7, Katie Wilson, UMW 84-89-85 - 258; 8, Nicole Fisher, LCSC 97-85-77 - 259; 9, Katie Fuqua, LCSC 88-91-82 - 261; 10, Shawna Elliott-RMC 85-92-86 - 263.

Lewis-Clark State (984) - Nikki Olson 80-77-78 - 235, Chantelle Beveridge 82-85-80 - 247, Samara Kluever 84-86-86 - 256, Nicole Fisher 97-85-77 - 259, Katie Fuqua 88-91-82 - 261.

Rocky Mountain (1,011) - Rachel Warren 78-84-77 - 239, Carlie Breen 91-83-78 - 252, Sable Hamilton 91-86-80 - 257, Shawna Elliott 85-92-86 - 263, Kelsey Phillips 97-83-85 - 265.

UM-Western (1,106) - Katie Wilson 84-89-85 - 258, Ashley Meine 92-89-86 - 267, Allie Bethel 92-101-95 - 288, Lisa Minnehan 104-91-98 - 293.

Carroll College (1,142) - Andrea Tucker 93-93-88 - 274, Veronica Crew 96-97-84 - 277, Audrey Adams 102-86-96 - 284, Tessa Dahlen 99-111-101 - 311, Erika Buechler 114-107-106 - 327.

Montana Tech (1,222) - Victoria Kazmierczak 93-96-87 - 276, Karen Gillespie 106-99-96 - 301, Jacqui Millam 109-101-103 - 313, Amy Eubanks 106-117-107 - 330.

MSU-Northern (1,282) - Julie Wagner 97-94-88 - 279, Anita Strommen 94-102-99 - 295, Heather Riener 101-100-113 - 314, Heather Haas 137-129-128 - 394.

Great Falls - Emily Pfeifer 104-107-94 - 305, Karly Eyre 106-102-89 - 297.

Miles CC - Andrea Flotkoetter 93-89-88 - 270, Marci Fandrich 96-96-WD, JoAna Ginalias 115-110-115 - 340, Courtney McRae 114-111-125 - 350.

EXTRAS - Katie Truscott, RMC 89-88-93 - 270; Karissa Hughes, RMC 99-100-90 - 289; Kaydie Cresswell, LC 106-95-95 - 296; Heidi Waterhouse, RM 113-104-99 - 316.