Blue Earth Area golfers Katelyn Storbeck, left, and Caleb Becker, right, are still in contention to win a bid to the Minnesota State Golf Tournament after the first round of the Section 2AA Golf Tournament.

The Section 2AA Golf Tournaments for both the boys and girls got underway this past week. The two-day competition, held at the New Prague Golf Club, will conclude next week on Tuesday, June 2.

The top four teams from the first day of the tournament along with a number of individual golfers will compete during the second day of the Section Tournament trying to earn a trip to the Class 2AA State Golf Tournament.

The winning team, plus the five golfers having the lowest scores who are not members of the winning team, advance to State following the completion of the Section Tournament.

BEA Girls Results

After the first round of play on Wednesday, May 27, Holy Family Catholic holds a 22-stroke lead over second-place Jordan in the team portion of the Section 2AA Girls Tournament. The other two teams moving on to the final round of Section play are Southwest Christian, who is 23 strokes behind the leader and St. Peter, who is in fourth place but trails Holy Family Catholic by 66 strokes. The Bucs finished in ninth place with a total of 13 teams competing.

On the individual side of things, Blue Earth Area’s Katelyn Storbeck qualified to move on to the second round of play. A total of 31 golfers, 24 from the top four teams plus seven other individuals, moved on to the second round.

Storbeck is currently tied for 11th place after the first 18 holes of golf with a 17-over-par score of 89.

Keira Schuster and Maggie Hoffer, both of Holy Family Catholic, are tied atop the leaderboard after each golfer shot a five-over-par score of 77.

While Storbeck is currently in 11th place, she is only four strokes behind the golfer currently in sixth place, Gabby Johnson of Southwest Christian.

Storbeck began her day on the back nine at the New Prague Golf Course and carded a nine-over-par score of 45. She had a birdie on the 17th hole.

The front nine saw Storbeck collect a pair of pars on her way to an eight-over-par score of 44.

The Bucs’ other golfers all missed the cut. Senior Lola Lundquist recorded a 99 while fellow senior McKinley Hanson had a 105. Sophomore Hailey Hanson finished with a 106. Averi Blair, another sophomore, shot a 113. Eighth grader Haedyn Cole finished with a 132.

BEA Boys Results

A total of 15 teams competed on the first day of the Section 2AA Boys Golf Tournament held on Tuesday, May 26.

After the first 18 holes of play, Southwest Christian is sitting in first place with a six-stroke lead over St. Peter. Holy Family Catholic is in third place, eight strokes behind the leader. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial was the fourth team to advance to the second round of play. They are 19 strokes behind Southwest Christian. Blue Earth Area finished in 14th place.

The Bucs’ Cole Becker qualified to advance to the second day of the tournament after shooting an eight-over-par score of 80. Becker is currently in a five-way tie for 23rd place but only three strokes out of eighth place in the highly-competitive tournament.

Kade Mata of St. Peter leads the individual golfers with a five-under-par score of 67. Two Southwest Christian golfers, Ryder Rose and Henry Johnson, are tied for second place with one-under-par scores of 71. Holy Family Catholic’s Ryder Carlson shot an even-par score of 70 and is in fourth place.

Becker, a junior, opened with six pars on the front nine to finish with a four-over-par score of 40. He then duplicated his score on the back nine by once again recording six pars while shooting a four-over-par score of 40.

The other five BEA golfers missed the cut and saw their season come to an end. Gavin Christenson shot an 89, Ian Viland carded a 97, Nathan Casias had a 107, Reed Sturtz finished with a 115 and Jacob Murray had a 119.