WDA golf tourney wraps up, Jays hold on to qualify to State

Sep. 27—JAMESTOWN — Members of the Jamestown High School girls golf team drew a collective sigh of relief Monday afternoon.

"With online scoring you can kind of see where everybody else is at when you enter in your own scores," JHS head coach Tracy Iliff said. "The girls were watching (the screen) pretty close.

"It really came down to the very last hole. We were able to sneak by Williston by three strokes so we have officially secured a spot for State so that's exciting,"

With a sixth-place finish at the 2022 West Region Meet, Jamestown wound up nabbing the last state qualifying spot. The Blue Jays have not qualified to the state meet as a team since 2020.

Iliff's squad shot a 386. Bismarck Century won the meet with a team score of 320. Bismarck Legacy, Mandan, Minot and St. Mary's are the four other teams that will be represented at the state meet.

Ava Kalanek of Bismarck Legacy was crowned the individual West Region champion with a 72.

The 2022 Class A State Golf Meet will be held at the Jamestown Country Club on Oct. 3-4. Tee times are set for 10 a.m.

At the halfway point the Blue Jays were sitting at the seventh-place spot as a team at 63-over par.

"We started off OK," Iliff said. "We really went up and down throughout the whole round — some of the girls were playing really well at the same time while some others were struggling.

"But we were able to recover after that and quickly figure out on the next hole how we could stay in control and get back on track and not let one bad hole get out of control."

Aspen Humes was one of those who rebounded quickly after shooting a 10 on hole No. 17 and a 6 on hole 18.

Iliff said the Country Club's back-nine is traditionally tougher to shoot as there are more hazards and tighter fairways that don't allow much room for error.

"Her first nine holes she kind of struggled," Iliff said of Humes. "She shot a 52. But then she finished shooting a 40 on the front nine. That's probably her best nine-hole score within a tournament so I was pleased with how she finished."

Once she transitioned to the Club's front nine, Humes went on a streak of 4s to tabulate a 92 — the team's best score of the day,

"I was really proud of her for recovering after that one tough hole that totally could have made the round get away from her," Iliff said.

Olivia Sorlie wound up in 26th place with a 96. Isabel LeFevre was one stroke back of Sorlie finishing with a 97. Mylee Michel notched a score of 101 while Belle Sjostrom shot a 123. McKenna Nieswaag rounded out the Jays' party with a 124.

2022 marked the first time the Jays had hosted the West Region meet since 2018. West Region teams will compete at the Jamestown Country Club three times this season.

"Most of the girls who come here really like our course," Iliff said. "There's some challenges but it is a course where you can score low. You can get a couple of birdies in there too so it's fun in that aspect."

Iliff will be looking to add a little bit of fun to the team's practices this next week in preparation for State.

Iliff said the team has been hitting it hard as far as playing holes out at the country club so as to get themselves used to the course and learn how to tackle the unfavorable situations they might find themselves in during the course of a tournament.

"We might dial that back a little bit and work on more skill work throughout the week," Iliff said. "Maybe we could do a fun team game one of the days so as to make sure they are having fun out here with their teammates."

West Region Golf Tournament

Sept. 26, Jamestown Country Club

Team scores

1. Bismarck Centuy 320; 2. Legacy 342; 3. Mandan 350; 4. Minot 357; 5. St. Mary's 369; 6. Jamestown 386; 7. Williston 389; 8. Minot Nroth 404; 9. Dickinson 409; 10. Bismarck High 411; 11. Watford City 440.

Top-10 finishers

1. Ava Kalanek, LEG, 72; 2. Leah Herbel, BC, 74; 3. Anna Huettl, MAN, 77; 4. Hannah Herbel, BC, 78; 5. Aliyah Iverson, BC, 82; T5. Paige Breuer, BHS, 82; 7. Kya Guidinger, LEG, 83; 8. Sara Anderson, BC, 86; 9. Adison Dittus, MIN, 87; T9. Kambree Hauglie, BC, 87.

Blue Jay results

19. Aspen Humes 92; 28. Olivia Sorlie 96; T31. Isabel LeFevre 97; 38. Mylee Michel 101; 64. Belle Sjostrom; 66. McKenna Nieswaag 124.