“[I’m looking forward to seeing] how much better can we get. It’s such a short season. A month from now, we’re going to have our conference tournaments,” head coach Cory Larson said. “In a little over a month, we’re going to have day one of sections. You have to take advantage of every day. The next three weeks, we’re going to have a lot of meets, a ton of your season packed into three weeks. It’s really trying to find steady play in a short amount of time, so that you’re playing your best possible golf going into postseason play.”

The girls team in particular are again looking to make a deep postseason run and defend their title, being back-to-back state champions in 2024 and 2025. The Blackjacks won last year’s state title with a score of 669, which was 18 strokes under Park Christian’s runner-up finish of 687.

This season, the girls team has lost a key piece after Lindsey Lund graduated last year, who was also the back-to-back individual golf state champion last year and in 2024. She now competes collegiality at Winona State University.

“Lindsey certainly did a great job, she was a great leader. Not only on meet days, but in practice and off the course. She just set a great example of how to prepare for meets, how to go about practice, but at the same time, to enjoy it all,” Larson said regarding how Lund’s impact is carried on to this year’s team. “Lindsey was good about understanding [that] it’s time to get down to business, and then there’s a lighter side to it where we can laugh and joke, and that’s what you certainly look at out of those older players.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Dawson-Boyd's Carson Stratmoen attempts a putt at the 2025 Class A state tournament at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker last spring.

Lund won last year’s tournament with a 152, and did the same in 2024 after carding a 147.

But, Dawson-Boyd has returned everyone else from the two-time state champion team, and is now led this season by lone senior Alyssa Swedzinski.

Swedzinksi has also been a pivotal player in helping lead the team’s success. She finished in seventh individually at last year’s state tournament with a 169, and has had an impressive start once again this season. She took third place in the season-opener at the Willmar invite, and again at the Marshall Invite on April 14.

Also supporting Swedzinksi and returning is junior Laura Schreier and sophomores Kylar Hjelmeland and Claire Stratmoen. The trio also played a major role in all of the Blackjacks’ success last season.

“The girls [team will] certainly come back, and bring enough girls back off of last year’s teams. I mean, it’s always hard to lose a girl like Lindsey Lund, who’s a two-time individual state champion,” Larson said. “But, I think certainly Alyssa and Kylar are ready to step into bigger roles. Alyssa has had a good start to her senior year, had some really steady play, and that’s what you look at [with] your top couple of girls, and letting them set the table for the team.”

Hjelmeland placed 12th at last year’s state tournament, as did Stratmoen and Schreier in 21st and 46th, respectively.

The girls team is picking up right where it left off, and won the New London-Spicer Invite on April 16 out of 11 competing teams. Hjelmeland and Stratmoen led the charge, finishing in third and fourth place, respectively, and Swedzinkski finished in eighth. Schreier came in 12th as well.

The team also took second at the Marshall invite with a 356, where Hjelmeland followed close behind of Swedzinksi for fifth place.

The Blackjacks have added a few new faces in seventh-grader Chloe Stratmoen, and freshman duo Myiah Bothun and Hattie Kemen.

“They’re going to tell you there’s room for improvement, but I think it’s a good start to the season,” Larson said of the girl’s team start. “You just never know, like in April, the conditions you play in. I would say both meets were, for April, decent. Sometimes you can play and it would be much colder than what we played in. I think for those two meets, we’ll take that weather in April.”

On the boys side, Dawson-Boyd also returns a majority of its core from a season prior. Notably, Carson Stratmoen is back for his junior campaign, who was the lone Blackjack from the boys team to compete at last year’s state tournament.

After carding a 164 for a fifth-place finish in the Section 5A Tournament, Carson Stratmoen shot a 157 for 18th place at the state tournament.

The boys team came up short at the section tournament in second place, missing the mark of a team state tournament berth, with a collective score of 681. Lac qui Parle Valley won the section with a 658.

But, Drew Hjelmeland and Evan Mork tied for ninth place individually to just miss joining Carson Stratmoen at state, both carding a 167. Drew Hjelmeland has since graduated, but Even Mork returns this year for his senior year.

“Carson is back, and Evan Mork, who is a very good player. Both of those guys started with 79s the other day, not terrible starts. Both walked off the course knowing that they had left some shots out there,” Larson said. “Overall, good start for those two guys, and not a bad start for the team.”

Mork is joined alongside Landon Kemen as Dawson-Boyd’s two seniors, along with eighth-grader Owen Schindler, junior Evan Menning and sophomores Mason Solem and Nolen Kemen.

At the Marshall Invite on April 13, the boys finished in eighth of 15 competiting teams, powered by Mork and Carson Stratmoen tying for 14th with a 7-over 79.

“Golf is a game that can get you down, really, really quickly. Those kids need to model positivity, and they [have to] remind themselves at the same time to not get down on themselves,” Larson said about his senior leadership between Swedzinski, Mork and Kemen. “[Remind] these younger kids that haven’t had the amount of competitive experiences they do, that it’s a game and the next round is a different round.”