Oct. 8—WATERTOWN — Slashing six strokes from its Day 1 score, the Mitchell High School boys golf team climbed one step on the final leaderboard, finishing in eighth place at the Class AA state tournament on Tuesday at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.
For the two-day tournament, Mitchell recorded a total of 624 strokes — 315 on Day 1 and 309 on Day 2. That improvement was the mark of an MHS roster that played well on both days, even though the Kernels came up shy of their top-five placement goal.
“We felt like maybe if we played well (on Tuesday), we could get back up into placing in the tournament, but we came up just a little short,” said MHS coach Ryker Kreutzfeldt. “I didn’t feel like we played badly. If you look at the teams above us, they had at least one or two people who played really well, so that ends up being the difference. You can’t fault our effort because they definitely gave it their all.”
Tournament host Watertown held off challenges from Pierre and Harrisburg to claim the team title, as all three squads shot under par for the tournament. Watertown (569) was 7-under-par as a team, with Pierre (570) and Harrisburg (571) within two strokes of the Arrows. On Tuesday, Pierre shot 283, which is 5-under-par, while Harrisburg was even better at 281 (7-under-par) to put a scare into Watertown, which was five strokes up after Day 1.
Rounding out the top 10, Brandon Valley (586) edged out O’Gorman (589) in a battle for fourth and fifth place, followed by Tea Area (614), Sioux Falls Lincoln (619) and Mitchell. Spearfish and Sioux Falls Jefferson tied for ninth place at 633.
For Mitchell, Asher Dannenbring shot a 1-over 73 on Tuesday, finishing with a two-day total of 5-over 149, placing him in a tie for 20th individually to earn a top-25 medal. The sophomore was Mitchell’s overall scoring leader during the season and top performer on both days at the state tournament.
During Tuesday’s round, Dannenbring recorded five birdies, giving him a team-high eight for the tournament.
“He’s probably a little disappointed because he had to battle through some things and wasn’t playing his best, but down the stretch on Day 2, he had to play well to get in that top 25,” Kreutzfeldt said of Dannenbring. “He’s a fighter, he showed that all year and it proved true again. Even as a sophomore, he has high expectations.”
Carter McCormick, who also improved by three strokes from Day 1 to Day 2, carded a 4-over 76 on Tuesday for a two-day total of 155.
As Mitchell’s No. 2 golfer at the tournament, McCormick finished just outside of medal contention in a tie for 31st place. The junior’s play also caught Kreutzfeldt’s eye.
“He was really steady all tournament and didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Kreutzfeldt said of McCormick. “He was in the 50s somewhere last year, place-wise, so this was a big improvement. I was really happy with how he played.”
Marshall Widstrom was the third Kernel to score for the team both days, following a 78 on Monday with an 82 on Tuesday. Everett Morrison improved the most out of any Kernel at the event, shooting a 6-over 78 on Tuesday after not factoring into the team total on Monday with an 83.
Sam Titze, who contributed to the team score with an 82 on Monday, shot an 88 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Brady Reiners notched an 84 on Tuesday, one stroke down from his 85 on Monday. Titze and Reiners, along with Widstrom, were all seniors for the Kernels and played their final round for MHS on Tuesday.
“Those three were great leaders for us all year, and they’re all guys who have put a lot of effort in and have shown that if you put the work in, you can get the results you want,” Kreutzfeldt said. “Those are three guys that we’ll miss, and we’re glad we got to send all of them off with playing in the state tournament.”
Individually, Tea Area’s Derek Andersen shot a tournament-best round of 7-under 67 on Tuesday to chase down Day 1 leader Ty Lenards, of Watertown. After 36 holes, the pair were tied at 8-under-par with 136 strokes, prompting a playoff, which Lenards won to capture the individual title.
Harrisburg Charlie Swift took third place with a 5-under 139 for his two-day total, while teammate Riley Christensen, O’Gorman’s Taten Mauney and Pierre’s Nicklaus Bothun tied for fourth at 141. Watertown’s Kaden Rylance, Brandon Valley’s Jackson Burns and Pierre’s Luke Olson formed another three-way tie for seventh at 142, as Pierre’s Lincoln Houska and O’Gorman’s Drew Simon shared 10th place at even-par 144 for the event.
