Photo by Ari Selvey: Marshall’s Deacon Wing celebrates a birdie putt to clinch a trip to the state meet on Hole 18 of Oakdale Golf Course Wednesday in the second leg of the Section 3AA Boys Golf Tournament.

BUFFALO LAKE — Deacon Wing led the Marshall boys golf team to a third-place finish at the Section 3AA tournament at Oakdale Golf Club on Wednesday. The Marshall sophomore shot a 2-under 70 on the day, good for the third-best round in the field, to finish eighth as an individual and earn a state tournament berth.

“After the first day, I felt like I didn’t really have much of a chance to go state as an individual, so I just played freely without stress and I didn’t look at the leaderboard,” Wing said. “Me and coach [Scott] Midtaune really just had fun today and somehow put together a really good round.”

Wing said he didn’t know he was in position to qualify as an individual for the state tournament until Midtaune told him so after Wing sunk a par put on the 18th green.

Wing finished the two-day event with a total of 151 strokes to claim the fifth and final individual state tournament spot. His performance helped Marshall put together a team score of 623 in the event, trailing only New Ulm’s 617 and New London-Spicer’s 596.

“I think the message to the whole team today was that we have nothing to lose, let’s just go out there and play as good of golf as we can,” Marshall head coach Kari Ehlers said. “There’s no pressure on us and I really think Deacon took that to heart. He just dug down deep… He was super consistent.”

Ehlers noted that Wing consistently chipped well, finishing the front nine without hitting a fairway and hitting just one on the back nine. His putting was also impressive, as he putted just 10 times in his first nine holes.

“If you ever watch Deacon play, you can just tell he’s very detailed and he always takes things super seriously,” coach Ehlers said. “I’m super excited for him just having an opportunity like this as a sophomore… I can’t wait to see what else he can do in his next two years of high school.”

Wing entered the second day of the tournament in a tie for 23rd with 81 strokes. Yet, he made the charge up the leaderboard with a 3-under performance on the front nine, including four birdies on holes 2, 6, 8 and 9. He stayed strong on the black nine with another pair of birdies on holes 12 and 16 to jump 15 spots on the leaderboard.

Only Charlie Hanson of Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta and Zach Gugisberg of Minnewaska shot a lower round on Wednesday, each finishing with 69 strokes. Gugisberg tied New Ulm’s Jaxon Buegler for first place in the tournament with 140 strokes while Hanson placed third at 144. New London-Spicer’s Gabe and Max Truscinski rounded out the top five at 145 and 147.

Wing competed for the Tigers in the state tournament as a freshman last year, finishing as a scoring member of the Marshall team in 36th place after shooting a 3-over 9-hole round on the second day.

“It feels good [to be returning]. We went to state last year as a team, and that was really fun, so I just wanted to try and have that feeling again,” Wing said. “It’ll definitely be a different atmosphere because I don’t have my whole team there to help and support me, it’ll just be me and one of our coaches so that will be tougher, but I think it will be a good experience.”

Luke Ehlers, the lone senior on the Marshall squad, entered the second day of tournament play tied with teammate Elijah Winn for 11th place with 77 strokes. He shot a4-over 76 on Wednesday, good for the ninth-lowest round of the day, but his cumulative score of 153 left him just a few strokes shy of an individual state tournament berth, tying him with Redwood Valley’s Zachary Wilson and Minnewaska Area’s Thatcher Sherlin for 10th place.

“[Luke has] always felt a lot of pressure, especially over the last couple of years being one of those guys who really wants his score to count every single time,” coach Ehlers said. “You’ve got to put together two really good rounds of golf on two very important days [to make the state tournament], and I’m sure there are some swings he’d love to do again, but I’m sure of proud of the player he’s become and the leader he’s evolved into over the years.”

Ehlers helped the team win the section last year as a junior and also qualified as an individual as a sophomore after just missing the tournament via tiebreaker as a freshman. He was a contributing member of the team since eighth grade.

Coach Ehlers said that Luke had been an integral part of the team for the last five years after learning from his older brother, Spencer, growing up. He also took on an increased leadership role as a senior.

“Luke has taken the time to take on a leadership role with the kids, especially this year, because in the past he’s always been able to look up to the older guys. Finally this year, he was the older guy,” coach Ehlers said. “He’s taken on a bit of a different role on the team, mentoring the younger guys and giving them suggestions… it’s been a fun transition role for him from last year to this year.”

Marshall finished the first day in third place as a team with a score of 317. They cut off 11 strokes from their team score, shooting a 306 on Wednesday to hold their ground on the podium.

Coach Ehlers said that she was happy with her team’s score on Wednesday, saying that she felt that her group cut out some of the out-of-bounds and water shots that it had a week prior and that the Tigers had improved the execution of their short game.

Winn, an eighth grader this year, finished 13th as an individual at the section tournament with a score of 154. He shot a 5-over 77 to close the tournament, highlighted by a stretch of three pars between holes 6 and 11.

Keegan Fossum rounded out the Marshall scorers in 28th place after his 12-over round on Wednesday brought him to a two-day total of 166.

Ethan Wendorff and Jaylen Koster also placed 37th and 39th, respectively, for Marshall. Wendorff shot a 15-over to finish the tournament with 172 strokes while Koster shot an 11-over round to finish with 173 strokes.

“I’m super excited for this team going forward. They’ve got some JV guys that are going to be vying for sports next year, and there are also some other schools that are young and I just hope my guys can take their summers and play some competitive rounds,” coach Ehlers said. “It’ll be fun to see what the team looks like in the future.”