“It feels great [to be named MVP], obviously, but there’s also that team aspect that I’m trying to accomplish. Even though there are individuals and all that, it’s kind of a team game,” Dalager said. “I mean, it’s the first team to get in front of [Lakeview] in a while, it’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”

It was a windy day on the links, with wind speeds at 26 miles per hour and gusts over 37. Still, the sophomore Dalager persevered through the wind to finish at a 5-over 77. Keeping his game simple and trying to just keep the ball on the fairway and on the green were key components to his success for the round, Dalager said.

Over the course of the round, Dalager tallied four total birdies and shot a 1-over score on the front 9 to edge out Canby’s Daven VanEngen by a single stroke in the field of 66.

As a team, Minneota shot a 336 to beat out Dawson-Boyd’s 345 and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg’s 349. Canby also placed sixth at 356, and Lakeview, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and Yellow Medicine East placed eighth, ninth and 10th at 371, 383 and 394, respectively.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Dawson-Boyd's Alyssa Swedzinski putts on the green during a meet at Marshall Golf Club on April 14.

The Vikings headed into the season expecting to be a strong team after returning everyone from last year, Minneota head coach Walker Hennen said, adding that it’s been fun to watch the growth of the players from last season to this year.

“The Camden Conference, South and North [divisions], is really strong. Being tested like that throughout the whole season will hopefully help us in the postseason here as well,” Hennen said.

Jase Sorensen placed fourth individual for the Minneota boys with an 81, ranking sixth for the All-Conference team, and Blayze Hulzebos also earned All-Conference honors. Hennen noted that the All-Conference honors are a nod to the golfers’ consistency since they’re determined by a composite of four of the six regular-season tournaments and the championship meet.

Sorensen logged a birdie on hole 18 along with 10 pars. Easton Sheik also placed 15th with an 88 and Randy Sorensen took 19th with a 90. While not scoring, Hulzebos — a freshman — finished in 24th with a 92.

“Blayze Hulzebos, our number two, missed [the state tournament] by one spot last year, so he kind of had a fire underneath his but to play some good golf in sections,” Hennen said. “And Owen made it last year, so he’s got some experience and can share that with the boys to roll with the punches at the section tournament, because there are always ups and downs.”

Photo by Jake McNeill: The Minneota boys golf team, including Easton Sheik, Blayze Hulzebos, Jase Sorensen, Owen Dalager, Randy Sorensen and Berkley Sheik, poses with its Camden Conference Championship trophy after Tuesday's Championship meet at Marshall Golf Club.

On the girls side, Alyssa Swedzinski topped the 42-player leaderboard with an 8-over 80 to earn her first Conference MVP honors. A senior, Swedzinski had been near the top of the conference consistently over her time with the Blackjacks but had been edged out by 2025 graduate Lindsey Lund. This time around, Swedzinski was able to come out on top of the field, capping off the conference season by shooting just 1-over on her final 11 holes, including a birdie on hole 18.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge to play well today, but now that it’s official, it feels great,” Swedzinski said. “We knew we were going to be challenged [this season] with losing our number-one golfer, Lindsey, but we’ve got some younger girls coming up. Chloe Stratmoen, a seventh grader, she came up and played some good roles so we know we can kind of rely on her a little if the four of us play bad. But yeah, me and the first three of the girls, we played pretty well, so just want to continue to play well throughout the season. We knew it required us to play well every meet in order to achieve it [a team conference title].”

Beyond what he described as a phenomenal score given the conditions, Dawson-Boyd head coach said that Swedzinski contributed to the team’s success by really stepping up into a leadership role for her final season with the Blackjacks.

“It’s what you hope for from a senior, just taking over for the girl in front of you and saying, ‘Alright, I’m going to be the number one,'” Larson said, adding that Swedzinski’s been really consistent in terms of shooting around the 80s or better. “Outside of maybe one round this year, she’s been phenomenal, but at the same time, just the leadership of taking on that role. Not just on meet days, but in practice as well.”

The Blackjacks finished with a team score of 351 to run away with the win in the final meet, beating out Lac qui Parle Valley’s 374 and Community Christian’s 382. Lakeview, Canby and Minneota shot 410, 423 and 444 to place fourth, fifth and sixth on the day. None of the other Camden Conference teams fielded a full team score.

Photo by Jake McNeill: The Dawson-Boyd girls golf team, including Myiah Bothun, Chloe Stratmoen, Kylar Hjelmeland, Alyssa Swediznski, Claire Stratmoen, Laura Schreier and Hattie Kemen, poses with its Camden Conference Championship trophy after Tuesday's Championship meet at Marshall Golf Club.

For the season, Canby’s girls finished as the conference runners-up to Dawson-Boyd and Lakeview took third. Dawson-Boyd’s boys team also placed third for the season behind Minneota and runner-up Central Minnesota Christian.

In addition to Swedzinski, the Blackjacks were chock-full of All-Conference honorees. Kylar Hjelmeland, Claire Stratmoen and Laura Schreier each made the team on the girls side, ranking fourth, fifth and 11th, and Evan Mork and Carson Stratmoen ranked second and fourth on the boys side. All four of the Blackjacks’ All-Conference girls have been to the state tournament, repeating as state champions last season, and Stratmoen qualified as an individual last year while Mork was just one place shy of joining him.

“I think certainly when you’ve tasted it before, that’s [state] kind of the pinnacle of our golf season,” Larson said. “Knowing that nothing’s a guarantee, but I think we have individuals that have goals of getting there. But more importantly, I think both groups now have a goal of getting there as a group.”

Claire Stratmoen tied Lac qui Parle Valley’s Molly Halvorson for second place in Tuesday’s meet, shooting an 13-over 85 with pars on four of her first six holes. Hjelmeland and Schreier also placed near the top of the pack, shooting a 92 to place eighth and a 94 to place 11th, respectively.

While not factoring into the team score, Chloe Stratmoen and Myiah Bothun also put forth solid rounds for the Blackjacks, Stratmoen carding a 107 to place 21st and Bothun one stroke behind her.

Mork led Dawson’s boys squad in the meet with a third-place finish at 8-over 80, going 1-under over his final six holes. Carson Stratmoen was right behind him in sixth with an 84, while Mason Solem placed 16th at 89 and Evan Menning placed 24th with a 92.

“In today’s conditions, that was a pretty good team score for us. It kind of maybe gives us a little confidence going into next week’s section meet that, alright, we can possibly be one of those teams that competes for the section title,” Larson said.

Maddison Richter was Canby’s low-scorer for the round, placing fourth with an 87. Finishing third on the All-Conference team, Richter also carded a birdie on hole 15.

Jayda Namken also placed 22nd for Canby at 108, followed by Gracie Mamer in 29th at 112 and Karli Weber in 33rd at 116. All four of the Lancers’ scoring members are in their sophomore season.

Lakeview’s girls team was led by Lauren Boe in eighth place with a 92, while Ledgen Javens placed 10th on the boys side. Both golfers earned All-Conference honors.

The Lakeview girls also got an 18th-place finish from Jersey Stensrud at 103, a 20th-place finish from Allison Isaacs at 106 and a 26th-place finish from Nora Forslund at 109. None of Lakeview’s top six are in their senior season yet, with Forslund as a sophomore and the other three scorers being juniors.

On the boys side, Gavin Gregoire placed 23rd with a 91, followed by Landon Teske in 40th with a 96 and Koven Neuman in 48th with a 98.

Canby had a pair of boys All-Conference honorees in VanEngen and Isaac Bollerud. Bollerud shot a 94 to place 36th as the Lancers’ No. 3 scorer, behind VanEngen and Jaxson Ramberg’s 16th-place 89, and one stroke ahead of Lane Citrowske’s 37th-place finish.

YME’s Cooper McCosh earned All-Conference honors on the boys side, placing 19th with a 90, and TMB’s Taylor Munson did the same on the girls side after placing seventh with a 91.

The Camden Conference schools now prepare for the section tournament, the first day of which will be Wednesday, May 20 at 8 a.m. Dawson-Boyd, Minneota, Canby and TMB will compete in the Section 3A tournament at Great Life Golf and Fitness in Worthington, and Yellow Medicine East will take on the Section 5A tournament at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Willmar.