Katelyn Storbeck

Katelyn Storbeck punched her ticket to the Minnesota State Class AA Golf Tournament by finishing fourth at the Section 2AA Golf Tournament at New Prague. The 36-hole tournament was scheduled to conclude on Monday, June 2. However, because of inclement weather, Storbeck had to complete her second round on Tuesday, June 3.

This marks the third time the junior Blue Earth Area golfer has qualified for the State Tournament. Storbeck also qualified as an eighth grader in 2022 and as a sophomore last year.

Holy Family Catholic won the team portion of the tournament by 60 strokes over the runner-up team from Southwest Christian.

All members of the first-place team (Holy Family Catholic), plus the golfers having the five best scores who are not a member of the first-place team, advance to State.

Hanna Norberg of Jordan won medalist honors with a 72-81-153 which was nine-over-par. Kiera Schuster of Holy Family Catholic was second with a 73-84-157 and Eva Stuewe of Glencoe-Silver Lake placed third with a 76-84-160.

Storbeck tied for fourth after shooting an opening-round score of 80 and carding an 82 in the second round for a 36-hole total of 162.

Storbeck started off her second round of the tournament with pars on hole Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. After recording bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes, she parred the seventh hole. Storbeck recorded a double bogey on the eighth hole before finishing the front-nine with a par on the ninth hole.

The back-nine saw Storbeck bogey hole No. 10 before getting pars on the 11th and 12th holes. She then had five consecutive bogeys before ending her round with a par on hole No. 18.

The Bucs’ Madison Ehrich concluded her golf career by finishing 20th at the Section 2AA Tournament. The senior finished with a two-round total of 195. She followed up her first round score of 93 with a 102 in the second round.

The Class AA State Golf Tournament will be held June 10-11 at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan.

Blue Earth Area Boys

Southwest Christian won the team portion of the Section 2AA Tournament on June 2 with a score of 606 with Holy Family Catholic finishing second with a score of 614.

Although the Blue Earth Area boys did not advance to the second day of Section play as a team, the Bucs’ Cole Becker did qualify to play on day two of the tournament.

Becker began the final 18 holes of the 36-hole tournament in a tie for 12th place after shooting a 79 in the opening round.

The Buccaneer sophomore recorded the fourth-best score of the second day with a 76 to move up the leaderboard and into a three-way tie for eighth place after 36 holes of golf.

He was tied with Riley Doyle of Holy Family Catholic and Kade Huepenbecker of Glencoe-Silver Lake for the final two spots of the golfers who would qualify to advance to the Class AA State Golf Tournament.

So, after a two-hour delay due to lightning, the three golfers returned to the course for a playoff.

Doyle earned his spot at State with a birdie while Huepenbecker and Becker each had bogeys on the first playoff hole.

On the second playoff hole, Becker’s shot from the tee was long and in the fairway while Huepenbecker’s shot sailed into an adjacent fairway with trees creating an obstacle for the next shot he would have while trying to reach the green.

Becker seemed to be in excellent shape after his second shot left him on the green with a very makable six-foot putt for birdie. However, Huepenbecker’s second shot from 60 yards out somehow found its way into the cup for an eagle which gave him the final qualifying spot to advance to State.

Huepenbecker’s miraculous shot negated what had been a very good day of golf for Becker.

Becker began his second round with a bogey on the first hole and a double bogey on the second hole before regrouping to finish the front-nine with seven straight pars.

He began the final nine holes with two pars before recording a bogey on the 12th hole. Becker then shot an eagle on the par-five hole No. 13.

He finished with bogeys on hole Nos. 14 and 16 and pars on hole Nos. 15, 17 and 18. His 18-hole total for the second round was a 4-over-par 76.