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The Luverne High School golf team had a busy week of competition, participating in three events.
The Cardinals played in the Fairmont Invitational Saturday, May 6, with the boys taking home second place and the girls eighth place.
They competed in the Big South West Event 3 Monday, May 8, when the boys took first place in Marshall and the girls were fourth in Redwood Valley.
LHS traveled to Morton for the Big South Conference Championship on Monday, May 15, when the boys took first place as the Big South Champions and the girls were eighth.
The Luverne golf teams will compete next week in the Buffalo Lake-Hector sections competition. The girls will play Wednesday, May 24, and the boys’ team will play Thursday, May 25.
Fairmont Invitational
The Luverne golf teams traveled to Fairmont Saturday, May 6, for the Fairmont Cardinal Invite.
The boys’ team played at Interlaken Golf Club, taking second place out of 12 teams, and the girls played at Rose Lake Golf Club, placing eighth out of 10 teams.
The Cardinal boys placed two golfers in the Top 10 at the 18-hole tournament.
Junior Henry Hartquist took first place overall with a score of 72.
Junior Owen Sudenga placed third with a score of 74.
Other LHS golfers at the meet were senior Brady Bork who shot an 85, sophomore Levi Gonnerman with an 85, junior Tyler Arends with an 88 and eighth-grader Will Bergman with an 89.
Luverne’s team score of 316 was good for second place behind Minnewaska with a 314 total.
Behind LHS were Marshall with 327, Fairmont with 336, St. Peter with 339, Blue Earth Area with 339, Worthington with 350, Jackson County Central with 360, Pipestone with 363, North Union with 363, New Ulm with 368, Redwood Valley with 373 and Windom with a partial team score of 286.
The Cardinal girls finished in eighth place with a combined team score of 420.
Senior Lauren Hansen led Luverne with an 18-hole score of 91.
Hansen was followed by junior Perceyis Trierweiler with 106, junior Kiesli Smith with 109, senior Deziree Nath with 114, senior Mallory Von Tersch with 119 and senior Abigail Anderson with 125.
Redwood Valley took first place in the meet with a score of 338. Fairmont was second with 359, followed by Worthington with 366, Blue Earth Area with 373, St. Peter with 385, Marshall with 401, North Union with 405, Luverne with 420, Jackson County Central with plus 144 after 17 holes and New Ulm with 478.
Big South West Event 3
The Luverne boys’ golf team traveled to Marshall Monday, May 8, taking first place out of six teams.
The LHS girls’ golf team traveled to Redwood Valley May 8, placing fourth out of four teams.
Luverne’s boys’ team combined score of 303 beat out five other teams at the Big South West Event.
Three Luverne golfers placed in the Top 12 individual score for the day.
Hartquist took top honors with his first-place finish of 66.
Sudenga tied for fifth place with a score of 77.
Bork placed seventh with a score of 78.
Bergman finished in 12th place with a score of 82.
Gonnerman finished with an 84 and Arends shot an 85.
“We had a very good day today. Hartquist’s round, I believe, is a school record and our team score of 303 is the best team score that I can remember,” head coach John Sichmeller said.
“Hartquist had an awesome round with six birdies and no bogeys. It was also good to see Bergman have his best round of the year with an 82.”
Marshall came in second with 311, Pipestone finished third with 329, Worthington was fourth with plus 46, Windom was fifth with 335 and Redwood Valley placed sixth with 349.
The Luverne girls’ team finished in fourth place with a team combined score of 442.
“It’s always difficult to score well at this course,” head coach Chris Nowatski said. “Putting was our biggest struggle.”
One LHS girls’ golfer placed in the Top 12 individual players for the day. Hansen placed 12th with a score of 100.
Trierweiler finished the day at 107, Smith recorded a 114, Nath shot a 121, Anderson shot a 123 and Von Tersch finished with a 126.
Redwood Valley was first with 345, Worthington was second with 382 and Marshall was third with 391.
Big South Conference Championship
LHS boys’ and girls’ golf teams participated in the Big South Conference Championship Monday, May 15, at Dakotah Ridge Golf Club in Morton where the boys took first place and the LHS girls were eighth.
The Cardinal boys’ team placed first, taking the first-ever Big South Championship in LHS history.
Luverne beat out 11 other teams at this year’s event, finishing with a combined team score of 308.
Luverne placed four golfers in the Top 6 at the event. Bork placed second with an 18-hole total of 73. Hartquist was third with a 74, and Gonnerman and Sudenga tied for sixth place with 78s.
Two other Cardinal golfers for Luverne had good days but placed lower than 15th place in the individual competition. Arends finished with an 84 and Bergman shot an 89.
Three LHS golfers, Hartquist, Sudenga and Bork, also garnered Big South Conference All-Conference team awards.
In second place at Big South competition was St. Peter with 307. For third place there was a three-way tie at 332 among Blue Earth Area, Windom Area and Marshall.
Sixth place went to Fairmont with 341, Waseca was seventh with 344, Pipestone took eight with 346, New Ulm was ninth with 349, Redwood Valley took 10th with 353, Jackson County Central placed 11th with 354 and Worthington finish 12th with 357.
The Luverne girls’ golf team played later Monday, placing eighth out of 10 teams.
The Luverne girls placed in the event as follows: Hanson placed 28th with a 103, Thierweiler placed 40th with 113, Smith placed 43rd with 114, Nath placed 44th with 115, Von Tersch placed 49th with 120 and Anderson placed 52nd with 124.
The girls’ team championship went to Redwood Valley with a team combined score of 339.
Blue Earth Area was second with 352, Fairmont took third with 361, St. Peter finished fourth with 364, Worthington was fifth with 379, Marshall was sixth with 389, Waseca placed seventh with 421, Luverne was eighth with 445, Windom Area was ninth with 460 and New Ulm finished in 10th with 501.