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STATE GOLF: Marshall girls golf earns second place finish, Ehlers ties for 53rd on Day 2 of state meet

Photo by Sam Thiel The Marshall girls golf team pose with their trophy after placing second in the Class AA meet on Wednesday afternoon at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan.

JORDAN – The Marshall girls golf team knew their final round of the season was going to be emotional and extremely close.

With just eight strokes separating three teams in the Class AA Tournament heading into the final day, placements were going to be settled on the back stretch. Detroit Lakes created further separation with its lead after nine holes of play, leaving the Tigers and Red Wing battling for the second and third spots on the podium.

After the dust settled and numbers were repeatedly punched into calculators, Marshall held on to its second-place spot with a one-stroke difference over the Wingers.

Marshall coach Gretchen Flynn said they weren’t sure where they would end up as the final groups walked up the 18th hole, but knew they were going to achieve their goal of finishing in the Top 3.

“I wasn’t quite sure where we were sitting with scoring; I didn’t know how low the Red Wing girls had gone that day so I wasn’t sure where we would be at. I was a little nervous, but it turns out that one stroke really made a difference but we were just hoping to stay in the Top 3,” Flynn said. “Our goal was to bring home some hardware and that was the last goal we had to check off for the season, so we would’ve been okay with third but second is a lot nicer.”

After firing an opening day score of 327, the Tigers shot a second round score of 337 for a two-day total of 664. Red Wing, who entered the day two strokes behind Marshall, shot a final day 336 for a two-day total of 665.

Flynn said having a strong first round and a two-shot lead over Red Wing ultimately was the difference and the trip up the final hole was an emotional finish for their seniors.

“That’s what carried us through on Wednesday. We didn’t play our best rounds Wednesday, but it helped having that little cushion coming into the final round, so that’s really what made the difference. For our seniors coming in, it was emotional. They’ve been with us for a long time and it’s going to be a whole different team next year without them around.”

Ana Schwarz led the way for the Tigers with a final round score of 79, followed by Kaylee Gossen with an 80, Olivia Peterson with an 88 and Rachel Schwarz with a 90. Megan Kock (95) and Ashtyn Eben (102) rounded out the scoring for Marshall.

Gossen fired a two-day total of 160 to place 11th while Ana Schwarz shot 163 in total to place 13th. Peterson (167) tied for 20th while Rachel Schwarz (174) tied for 37th, Kock tied for 56th with a two-day total of 186 and Eben shot 194 to place 64th.

Ana Schwarz said despite finishing outside of the Top 10 individually, she was pleased with her teammates and how they came together to help earn runner-up.

“This was my best finish at state, so this was really cool. I wanted to go home with hardware for being in the Top 10, but I would any day no question take home team hardware instead of individual, so that was so fun that we got to medal with the team rather than as an individual,” she said. “And it just goes to show, none of our girls were Top 10, but we still took second and that just shows how strong of a team we have.”

Wednesday also marked the final prep rounds for Marshall seniors Ana Schwarz, Gossen and Kock. Flynn said all three of them have had a huge impact on the team and have been great leaders throughout the last few years and will be missed next year.

“Megan is one of the easiest kids on the team; she’s just a sweet girl and she just gives her heart to everything she does and we’re really going to miss her and her attitude and her presence on the team. She’s a great leader and somebody that all of the other teammates can look up to and Megan’s just an all-around solid kid,” Flynn said. “Ana and Kaylee obviously have been instrumental in getting us to where we are today. They’ve been leaders since they were sophomores and we’ve depended on their scores for a lot of holes and a lot of rounds. The three of them were all captains this year and did a fantastic job as leaders, even with the little things like having the team keep up with their schoolwork and also just showing them what competitive golf needs to look like and going the extra mile in order to help us succeed this year.”

Ana Schwarz said she is incredibly thankful for her teammates and what they were able to accomplish this season as a group.

“I’m so thankful for this team. All of the years I’ve played golf, this is the best team; I’m sincerely best friends with each one of these girls and it’s so cool that I got to experience all of this with my sisters too,” she said. “We are truly friends on and off the course, so it’s so cool that we get to make these memories together. It’s fun to golf together but just the time we spend together in the hotel, in the car and everything; just the memories I will never forget.”

She added that both Flynn and assistant coach Charlie Kost have put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to help the team get better as the season went on and she was happy they could all experience the journey together.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much time and effort Gretchen and Charlie have put into our games,” she said. “Charlie came back from Arizona for our season; I can’t think of one other person who would do that, just the time they take to set up things for practice, to think of games for us and to wake up early and drive us to our tournaments. They’re just so supportive of everything we do and they really just want the best for us. I was so happy that not only we could win but they could win too.”

One thing Ana Schwarz said she’s going to miss is the people in Marshall and the support from the community.

“The people, 100 percent. Whether it’s school or sports or anything, I’m going to miss the people so much,” she said. “Marshall is just the best community and I have so much support; Wednesday morning I got multiple texts from people saying they were thinking of me and praying for me. I don’t know if people have that anywhere else, but it’s such a blessing and I’m so thankful.”

Flynn said their biggest takeaway from this season was just believing in themselves that they could compete with some of the best teams in the state.

“I think the first thing is that they finally believed in themselves. I think that’s what was missing last year; we as coaches knew that we should’ve been out of sections last year and been at state, and our girls just didn’t quite believe in themselves,” Flynn said. “When they started going up against some other teams in the state that were top 3AA and 2AA teams and competing with them or beating them, they finally figured out they belonged at state.”

Meanwhile on the boys side, Spencer Ehlers looked to capitalize on his first round score of 78, but struggled to piece together consistent holes as the Marshall junior ended with a second day score of 82 for a two-day total of 160.

“I could never really get anything going on Wednesday,” Ehlers said. “I was able to hit off the tee well, but struggled with my approaches and my putting continued to struggle as well. I had glimpses of good rounds but just couldn’t piece together two good rounds.”

Marshall boys coach Kari Ehlers said she felt despite his inconsistencies with his game, Spencer remained more comfortable than on Day 1 and was able to get out to a good start and have a good finish as well.

“I think one of the positives was that Spencer seemed fairly at ease on Wednesday. He was comfortable and didn’t seem as nervous to start which was nice to see,” coach Ehlers said. “One of the concerns was that he seemed inconsistent; his putting wasn’t working as well and he just didn’t look as comfortable standing over the ball. But the fact that he is usually able to dig deep and grind out some good holes was nice to see and he was able to finish well with birdies on 16 and 18 to end on.”

Ehlers said their biggest goal is to bring the entire team to state next year, and that having this experience at state will help them work hard this summer so they can make a return trip.

“We only graduated one from this year, so we’re looking at a couple of the younger kids to see some varsity time next year,” Ehlers said. “These two days have been a great experience for me and we’ll be ready to get back to work this summer, so that we can bring the whole team to state next year.”

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