FIELD TWP- Late melting snow, excessive April rains, and intermittent storms have taken their toll on Minnesota spring sports seasons, but the North Woods boys and girls have taken it all in stride.
Steady winds blowing at 17 mph aren’t considered ideal for golf, but with a mild 56 degrees and overcast skies, conditions were just fine for the Grizzlies girls to host a tournament last Friday at Vermilion Fairways in Cook.
Mesabi East won the team title with a combined 198 score. North Woods finished four with a total of 225.
The Grizzlies Tori Olson mastered the wind to card a 46 and claim fourth place, just three strokes behind winner Kelby Anderson of International Falls. Haley Bogdan logged a 55 to tie for 12th place, while Madison Dantes tied for 18th with a 59 and Morgan Burnett tied for 21st with a 63.
On the boys’ side, Davis Kleppe navigated his way through a topsy-turvy season to the top of the East Range Conference in scoring average by regular season’s end. But Kleppe was a victim of the weather demons last week at Mesabi East.
Kleppe walked off the course and into the clubhouse with a 77 and the tournament lead, and with players two and three strokes behind him, Kleppe looked good for the gold. But before the last pairing could finish their round, the clouds let loose with lightning, causing officials to immediately stop the tournament. Since not all golfers finished 18 holes, tournament managers decided to count only the front nine scores, and Kleppe went from first to third in a flash.
As a team the Grizzlies place third in the field of four, and Eli Smith tied for second with a 43. Ty Fabish carded a 48 and Ethan Byram came in at 56.
Earlier in the week at Hibbing it was Smith who had the hot sticks, tying for first with an 85 and leading the Grizzlies to a third-place finish in the six-team field. Kleppe was five stroke back in a tie for 11th, and Fabish came in at 91, one stroke behind Kleppe in 13th. Byram wasn’t far behind in 16th with a 93.
Both the boys and girls teams were in sectional tournament action in Virginia on Wednesday. Results will be posted on the Timberjay Facebook page.