skip navigation

Knight Boys place 5th in state tournament

By Craig Olson, 06/16/21, 10:45PM CDT

Share

The West Central Area Knights golf team came home with a fifth place finish at the Class A State tournament in Becker on June 15th and 16th.

Fertile-Beltrami won the meet with a 2-day total of 629, Legacy Christian was second with a 642, Sleepy Eye 3rd with a 656, North Woods 4th with 675, WCA 691, Benson was 6th at 707, Lanesboro 7th with a 714 and Adrian 8th with a 731.


West Central Area finished fifth in the Class A State Boys Golf Tournament. PHOTO PROVIDED

Knights Coach Kraig Hunter said, "We are so proud of our boys.  Thirty-six holes of competitive golf is mentally grueling and the bad breaks in this game can beat you up mentally. Yet our boys kept positive, they persevered with resiliency and finished strong."

"The whole experience is something they will never forget. There were so many people there watching which made the atmosphere great.  We won the first eleven tournaments we played in this year (9 regular season tournaments, the conference championship, and the section championship) and then finished 5th in state tournament. To finish as the fifth best team in Minnesota is a huge accomplishment.  I'm just happy for these boys because they worked so hard for it and are so deserving."

The Knights individual 2-day totals were Grant Beuckens 168, Mitch Dewey 169, Tate Christenson 173, Peyton Hanson 183, Marshall Dewey 189, and Sam Hanson 207.  Two of the Knights finished in the top 40 as Beuckens was 34th and Mitch Dewey 38th.  Christenson finished 46th.

Rylin Petry of Fertile-Beltrami won the individual title with a 146 total, one stroke better than runner-up Brett Reid of Community Christian.  Ryan Engel of Ada-Borup was third with a 149.

Underwood golfer Trevor Swonger, the Section 6A champion, finished in a tie for sixth place with a 151 (77-74) and Noah Kapenga of Pelican Rapids was tied for 48th place with a 174 (90-84).

"Very proud of Trevor and the way he was able to stay focused on a hot and long day to shoot a 36-38 for a 74 on day two and move up one place overall to receive a medal," stated Underwood Head Coach Chuck Ross.  "Chipping and putting has always been one of his strong points but yesterday he was at his best, it got him out of a few sticky situations. Overall, it was a fun and learning experience for someone in his first State tournament experience. He represented Underwood and Section 6A very well."

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy had two golfers competing.  Joel Quam was 30th with a 166 (82-84) and Bryce Grabinski was tied for 69th with a 188 (96-92).


Trevor Swonger finished sixth in Class A State Individual Tournament play.