Submitted photo by Cory Larson The Dawson-Boyd girls golf team poses with the Class A trophy after claiming the state championship at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Bekker on Wednesday. The team includes (left to right) Claire Stratmoen, Alyssa Swedzinski, Reese Oschendorf, Lindsey Lund, Kylar Hjelmeland and Laura Schreier.

BECKER — This year marked the first time the Dawson-Boyd girls golf team had qualified for the state tournament. With no seniors and just two juniors, the Blackjacks were less experienced than the bulk of the field. Yet, they kept their nerves intact and persevered through unusual conditions to claim the title of co-state champions with Fillmore Central.

“It’s an insane feeling, especially being the first Dawson-Boyd girls team to make it to state,” individual champion Lindsey Lund said. “It’s a really cool feeling to be able to do it not only as an individual but as a team as well.”

Day 2 of the tournament was delayed due to weather conditions. It was also cut short, resulting in each team only playing 16 holes on Wednesday with holes 9 and 18 not counting for those that played either of them.

“Nobody really knew what was going to happen,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson said. “At the time, it’s certainly kind of tight between us and Fillmore Central… Past practice has been that if it gets washed out, then it goes back to the day 1 scores, so the positions they were in individually. We didn’t want that to happen but policy has changed where they could count what they did and use all the common holes that everybody had played.”

As a team, Dawson-Boyd entered the day five strokes back of Fillmore Central but they rallied back by shooting a round-best 46 on day 2 to force a tie with a two-day score of 108-over. Park Christian took the bronze at 12-over while Murray County Central also qualified as a team, shooting a 229-over to place eighth.

Lund entered the day in a tie for third with B.O.L.D.’s Kenna Henriksen and Border West’s Aspen Beyer. She was four strokes back of Paige Beyer and two back of Myleigh Scheevel, but made the charge with a 3-over 80 to leap up to the top of the leaderboard with a final score of 11-over.

“My putting [was the difference today] for sure. I could just drain 15-foot putts for anything,” Lund said with a laugh, crediting her brother Tyler for helping her adjust her stroke before the meet. “I give all credit to him for that, I probably been 2-under through four if it wasn’t for him.”

Lund birdied holes 2, 4 and 10 on the day while also logging another eight pars. She said she had nerves when the horn sounded in the 18th tee box, leaving her unsure of where she’d be finishing with one hole left unplayed.

“I was like, ‘Are they going to count today’s score or are they going to take day 1’s score?'” Lund said. “I was kind of upset because I hadn’t played my best [on day 1], but once I got to the clubhouse and they ruled that they were going to just take out holes 18 and 9, that secured me first place and it was an insane, amazing feeling. My family was so excited.”

Lund wasn’t the only Blackjack near the top of the leaderboard. Her sophomore teammate, Alyssa Swedzinski, carded a 5-over 69 on the day to move up from eighth place to third.

“Golf is super competitive so there were a little bit of nerves out there running through my system, but golf is a big part of handling those so I was just trying to compose myself,” Swedzinski said. She logged a birdie on hole 7 to go 1-over through her first eight holes and finished with a two-day score of 17-over, tying Scheevel and finishing five strokes back of Henriksen.

Eighth grader Kylar Hjelmeland finished 17th in the tournament with a two-day score of 28-over, following her 16-over on Wednesday, while fellow eighth grader Claire Stratmoen rounded out Dawson-Boyd’s scorers in 45th with a 52-over following her 22-over outing on Wednesday.

Freshman Laura Schreier and junior Reese Oschendorf didn’t contribute to the team score but finished the tournament at 85-over and 87-over respectively. The Blackjacks will be returning all six of their varsity players next year.

“The boys and the girls are just two fun groups to work with and be around,” Larson said. “We just have to work better. Nothing’s guaranteed that you’re going to be back in this position a year from now. Certainly, as a coach, I like that I’m going to get to coach the same six and 12 kids next year on both the boys and girls sides because they’re great kids that have great attitudes.”

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton senior Shae O’Leary tied Hjelmeland for 17th place with a 28-over in her final varsity tournament. Her 8-over on Wednesday was tied for the fifth-lowest round of the day.

Teigyn O’Leary also shot a 48 on the tournament to place 41st while junior Jenna Gossen placed 58th for RTR with a 61-over.

Ava Johnson and Rachael Huso were the low scorers for MCC in the tournament, shooting a 38-over and 40-over to place 30th and 35th respectively. Johnson shot a 19-over on Wednesday while Huso made a leap up the leaderboard with a 16-over. Lizzie Daniels also shot a 62-over to place 62nd while Natalie Einck rounded out the Blackjacks’ scorers in 79th place with an 89-over.

Canby eighth grader Maddison Richter placed 27th with a 37-over after shooting 17-over on Wednesday.