Photos courtesy of Marshall golf Left: Marshall’s Mason Plante (left) and Spencer Ehlers (right) pose with the team’s second-place trophy after the second day of the Section 3AA tournament on Tuesday. Both Plante and Ehlers qualified as individuals for the Class AA meet. Right: Marshall’s Rachel Schwarz (left) and Olivia Peterson (right) pose with their individual section medals after the second day of the Section 3AA tournament on Tuesday. Both Schwarz and Peterson qualified for the Class AA meet as individuals.

BUFFALO LAKE — A season ago, Spencer Ehlers forced a three-way playoff in order to earn his way to the 2018 Class A Boys Golf Championships.

This year, Ehlers carded a round of 2-over on Tuesday’s Day 2 of the Section 3AA Championships to end the two-day meet at 7-over and secure his spot as an individual qualifier with room to spare.

Joining Ehlers at state will be teammate and fellow senior Mason Plante, whose two-day score of an 8-over 152 earned him the third individual qualifier spot out of five from Section 3AA.

For both Plante and Ehlers, it will be their second time at the state golf meet as individuals. Plante advanced to state in 2017, while Ehlers was a state meet participant in 2018.

“It’s a good feeling,” Plante said. “We’ve wanted this for each other and have battled for each other, so it’s a nice feeling.”

Ehlers added having that previous experience at the state tournament will play a big factor for both him and Plante.

“For Mason and I, the big thing is that it’s not our first trip to state and we’ll be coming in with some more experience,” Ehlers said. “It’s also exciting for our younger players to see this and use it as motivation for next year to come back as a team.”

Marshall coach Kari Ehlers said both Spencer and Mason have a strong knowledge of the state course (Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan), and have a good opportunity to place high up on the leaderboard.

“For Mason and Spencer, they’ve played Ridges both during the season and in the postseason and they have a good knowledge of the course and know where to hit it and where to be cautious,” coach Ehlers said. “They both have a great chance of scoring in the mid-70s both days, so they just need to go in confident and have a plan and they can score to their potential.”

The Marshall girls golf team will be sending a pair of individuals to state as well, as senior Olivia Peterson and junior Rachel Schwarz will represent the Tigers at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan.

Schwarz ended Day 2 with a 7-over 79 to move on, while Peterson was the last individual qualifier out of Section 3AA after a 12-over 84 on Tuesday.

Both Schwarz and Peterson had difficult starts to their rounds, but were able to keep composure as the round went on.

“After starting with an 8 on Hole 1 again, I had my work cut out for me,” Schwarz said. “But I was very controlled off the tee and my putting was the best it has been all season.”

“I had a tough first nine, and after that I just let go and started to enjoy the round,” Peterson added. “My putting was what put me back in it and gave me more confidence.”

Hitting putts was a strength for the Tigers on Tuesday according to Marshall girls golf coach Gretchen Flynn, who also noted that Ramsey Nelson finished her round with a personal-best 22-over 94.

“We putted extremely well today as a whole,” Flynn said. “The short game was also a strength of ours today. We did a great job of keeping the ball in play and putting ourselves in position to score.”

Last year, the Tiger girls finished second in Class AA after qualifying as a team for the first time since 2006. Despite not advancing the full team this season, Schwarz was pleased with the team’s success this year.

“It was such a fun round and an amazing season,” she said. “I’m so proud of our team and all we accomplished this year.”

The Class AA Boys and Girls Golf Championships will be June 11-12.