Photo courtesy of Walker Hennen. The 2025 Minneota boys and girls golf team consists of (front row, left to right) Cole Johnson, Bryce Gorecki, James Harms, Hunter Danielson, Ava Panka, Alexis Thostenson, Cheyenne Hoffman, Vance Claeys, Kade Sussner, Berkley Sheik, (middle row) Reed Sorensen, Nolan VanKeulen, Hudson Thostenson, Owen Dalager, (back row), Blayze Hulzebos, Randy "RJ" Sorensen, Brayden Kollman, Noah Jerzak, Connor Boerboom, Josh Arends, Easton Sheik, Blake Citterman and Jase Sorensen. Not pictured is Braxton Hennen.

MINNEOTA — Both the Minneota girls and boys golf team has seen a growth in numbers, and hopes to make it further in this season’s postseason with its young squads. 

“We’ve talked as a coaching staff on the different things we want to emphasize this year. We’re going to focus on driver, just keeping confidence with that and making sure we’re keeping the ball in play off the tee,” Minneota head coach Walker Hennen said. “Then, the scoring spots, so inside of 100 yards, which is a focus every year, but we’ll do a lot of different stuff like par-three courses … Work on those skills, and then chipping and putting as well.” 

The girls team has added two in Alexis Thostenson and Cheyenne Hoffman to pair with Ava Panka, who was the only golfer to field the girls team last year. 

“I have 24 total golfers, but only three girls … Ava Panka, she did pretty well last year. She got her first start on varsity last year, and got a lot of good experience and was pretty competitive. This year, she will look to build on that. I think she’ll have a pretty solid season,” Hennen said. “I do have two other girls that are working to get on the varsity team as well, so hopefully towards the middle or end of the season, they’ll be able to get out there.”

Last year, Panka played in 10 total meets for 16 rounds. She returns this year as a sophomore, and in her fourth year in the golfing program. 

In the Section 3A tournament last year, Panka placed 14th with a 229 throughout the entirety of the tournament. 

Panka opened up the season this year with an eighth place finish with a 31-over 102 of 45 golfers at the Worthington Girls Invite on April 4. She followed that performance up with fifth place at the Camden Conference South Yellow Medicine East Invitational on April 10 with a 17-over 53, tying with three other golfers out of 13. 

“[That was a] Good experience for her [the Worthington Invite], because our section tournament is in Worthington, so she got like an extra round there now,” Hennen said. “She ended up being pretty dang competitive … She only got beat by three single [Class] A golfers, two of which are in our sections.” 

On the boys side, Minneota graduated its top two golfers from last season, Max Rost and Keaton Jurrens. But, eighth grader Blayze Hulzebos, freshman Jase Sorensen and sophomore Brayden Kollman return, who followed as the team’s best third, fourth and fifth golfers respectively. The trio each appeared in 10 rounds last season. 

“It’ll be pretty young, but all three of them are pretty solid golfers. I think we’ll be pretty dang competitive as a team,” Hennen said. “I got some new golfers this year. I have two juniors that are new, so we’ll have some upperclassmen that will be competing for the last couple of spots that are available. I have a couple new freshmen, and some new seventh graders as well.” 

In the boys first meet this season at Yellow Medicine East on April 10, Minneota finished third as a team out of five schools, four of which fielded a team score. 

Individually, freshman Owen Dalager earned the team’s best finish with a 5-over 41 for sixth place of 28 golfers. Sorensen finished ninth with 43, while Hulzebos took 12 with 45. Kollman and Sheik placed 18th and 19th respectively. 

The Vikings have an upcoming home meet, where both teams will host the Camden Conference South Invitational on April 22 at the Countryside Golf Club with a 4:30 p.m. tee-off time for both the boys and girls. 

“Since we’re so young, I think we’ll grow a lot throughout the year, where some years it seems like at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, you’re scoring about the same,” Hennen said. “But this year, I think we’ll have a really good chance to improve throughout the year.”