Photo by Jake McNeill Lakeview sophomore Carson Boe takes a putt at a golf tournament at Cottonwood Country Club on May 9. After day one of the boys Class A tournament, Boe sits in a tie for second place.

BECKER — The Lakeview boys golf team is in position to take home some hardware at the Class A tournament, finishing day one in first place as a team and with Carson Boe tied for second as an individual in the 86-player field.

The Lakers put together a team score of 34-over, putting him two strokes ahead of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley. Fillmore Central sits in third at 43-over, one stroke ahead of Fertile-Beltrami.

Leading the charge for Lakeview, Boe finished the day even-par, locked in a tie with Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa’s Brady Schwinghammer and Martin County West’s Hunter Schmidt.

Boe had a hiccup on holes two and three, shooting a bogey and double bogey. Yet, a birdie on hole one and three more on holes four through six helped him to a nice recovery.

In round two, Boe will tee off in the final group at 1:35 p.m. on hole one alongside Schwinghammer, Fillmore Central’s Jake Fishbaugher and WHA’s Parker Brock. He’ll go into the day two strokes back of leader Cole Witherow on New Life Academy of Woodbury.

Also in the top 20 for the Lakers, Lane Arends finished the day at 7-over to enter a tie for 16th. Also in the logjam is United South Central’s Kadyn Neubauer, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s Logan Thell, Ada-Borup-West’s Ryan Engel and Renville County West’s Ryan Schrupp.

After starting the day with a bogey and double bogey on holes 10 and 11, Arends settled down to split a 4-over 40 on his first nine holes and closed out hole nine with a birdie to finish his second nine holes at 3-over.

Arends will tee off on hole 1 alongside WHA’s Maverick Reed, Fertile-Beltrami’s Masen Nowacki and Fillmore Central’s Brock Sikkink at 1:26 p.m.

Ethan Schwankl placed 30th at 10-over for the Lakers while Jordan Fischer rounded out the Lakers’ scorers at 17-over in 67th. Schwankl will tee off on hole one today at 1:17 p.m. and Fischer will tee off at 12:59 p.m.

Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda/Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s dynamic duo of Nathan Kueny and Sawyer Drent tied for 13th at 6-over. Kueny had a steady round, with no birdies but no holes more than one stroke over par. Drent was more up and down, with two birdies but a double bogey as well.

Kueny will tee off on hole one at 12:24 p.m. while Drent will start his round at 12:32 p.m.

Dawson-Boyd eighth grader Carson Stratmoen shot an 11-over in the tournament as an individual. Despite a triple bogey on hole five and a pair of double bogeys on the back nine, Stratmoen recovered to stay competitive. He had six pars on the front nine and a pair of birdies on the back nine.

Stratmoen will start his second round on the back nine at 12:16 p.m. today. He goes into the day tied for 34th with Heritage Christian Academy’s Alex Rhode and Evan Villagomez, Fertile-Beltrami’s Caiden Swenby, Badger-GB-MR’s Jaxon Janousek and Adrian/Ellsworth’s Logan Brake.

Chase Christensen, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights’ lone qualifier, shot a 12-over to place 40th and finish day one in the top half of the field.

Christensen started his first four holes at 6-over. After three pars in four holes, he had another double bogey on hole nine to go into the back nine at 9-over.

Still, he buckled down on the back nine with a birdie and just four bogeys, holding on to finish the day in a tie with Fillmore Central’s Brock Sikkink, WHA’s Lake Elling and Border West’s Nolan Wilson.

Christensen will start day two at 12:16 p.m. on hole 10.

Day two of the Class A tournament will begin at Pebble Creek Golf Club today at noon.

Marshall’s Ehlers makes state tournament debut

JORDAN — Marshall’s Luke Ehlers put together a strong back nine to finish the first day of the boys Class AA tournament at 7-over at Ridges at Sand Creek Golf Club.

Through six holes, Ehlers had six bogeys, the exception being a hole-three birdie. Yet, he remained composed and went on a run in the back nine. After shooting a 5-over 41 on the front nine, Ehlers limited himself to three bogeys on the final nine holes, including two pars and a birdie to close out the round and go into day two in 34th place.

Also tied for 34th was Lake City’s Braxton Berlin, West Central Area’s Mitchell Dewey, Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s Garrett Sperber and Michael Scripture, Roseau’s Teagan LaPlante and Cloquet’s Anders Gunelson.

Of the 34 golfers ahead of Ehlers, just 13 are his class year or younger.

Ehlers also eliminated any and all major mistakes from his game. While there were some bogeys on his scorecard, he never went more than one stroke over par on a hole.

Tuesday’s tournament marks Ehlers’ first time in the state meet. He missed qualifying for the Class AA tournament as an individual by a combined four strokes over the last two years before breaking through with a third-place finish at the 2023 3AA tournament.

In similar fashion, Marshall junior Jayden Manthei tied for eighth in this year’s section tournament, putting him in a tie with Fairmont’s Brock Lutterman as the first individual to miss the cut to qualify for states. Still, Manthei has another year of prep eligibility to qualify and compete at the state level.

Kimball Area’s Luke Ashbrook led the field after day one at 2-under while Blake School’s Christopher Zhao was right behind him in second. Holy Family Catholic’s PJ Herron, Staples-Motley’s Carter White, Pequot Lakes’ Anthony Armstrong and Totino-Grace’s Andrew Ramos all tied for third even with par.

The Class AA boys golf tournament will resume on Wednesday morning at noon. Ehlers will be teeing off on hole one at 12:24 p.m. alongside Berline and Pequot Lakes’ Tollef Birkeland.