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Last rounds ahead

ORCS golfers cautiously optimistic heading into state

Alex Eisen/MDN ORCS junior golfer Matthew Hendrickson takes a tee shot in practice round last week at the Vardon Golf Club in Minot. Hendrickson has won four Class B golf tournaments this season.

Through all the trials and tribulations of an interesting spring season, the Our Redeemer’s boys golf team have continued to excel.

In doing so, the Knights find themselves in reasonable striking distance of winning the school’s first-ever state championship across all ORCS sports.

Only one thing stands in their way: the Maple River Golf Club, a course they have never played on before.

“We are going to go down there and take a good look at the course and then figure things out,” ORCS coach Jesse Rostvedt said at practice last Wednesday. “We are not going to set exactly that goal yet of trying to win a state championship. This is a group that is still building and still growing.”

The senior-less ORCS squad put together a strong regular season — winning three out of the six tournaments they competed in — despite having to work around the long winter.

“It was definitely a grind going from indoors to back outdoors,” junior Matthew Hendrickson said. “All the guys were kind of getting tired of being indoors. But, I feel like we bounced back from that.”

Then, the Knights lost a golfer.

“A good group of kids, but my No. 3 (golfer) ended up quitting for personal reasons after our first tournament of the year,” Rostvedt said. “That was a bump in the road that we weren’t expecting… It kind of shook the group a little bit, I thought.”

ORCS won that first tournament before hitting a little bit of a lull with second-place finishes to Northern Lights.

But, the Knights have risen to the occasion over the last couple of weeks.

They had the top team score at the Region 4 Individual Qualifier tournament on their home course at the Vardon Golf Club on May 14. Then, they won the program’s first Region 4 Team Qualifier tournament on May 21 at Westhope.

“The last two tournaments have been a lot of fun. We are starting to catch our groove and different kids have stepped up,” Rostvedt said. “They hadn’t played a tournament up in Westhope before, so it was a different atmosphere for them and it was difficult conditions. It wasn’t super windy, but the course was just so dry. It was tough to keep things on the greens.”

Matthew and Zach Hendrickson didn’t seem to mind. The duo placed second and third, respectively.

Matthew Hendrickson was the medalist at four tournaments and posted the second-lowest round in Class B this season with a 71.

Only Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich golfer Sidney Ullyott had a better round of 68.

“Individually, I could have done a little bit better in some of the tournaments,” a modest Matthew Hendrickson said. “But, I got nothing to complain about.”

Alongside the Hendrickson’s, junior Matt Zimmermann has been a steady scoring factor for the Knights.

“I feel pretty confident,” Zimmermann said about heading into the state tournament. “I think we can finish strong if we are all on our ‘A’ game.”

Jantz Buckmeier, Evan Stenvold and Hunter Williamson round out the team and will be looking to be that No. 4 golfer to cap the ORCS team score.

The two-day state tournament in Mapleton gets underway at 9 a.m. this morning.

“There are a few water holes, which might be interesting,” Zimmermann said. “But, overall, I heard it’s a shorter course and shouldn’t be too bad if you just keep it on the fairway.

“I have never played it before — I have seen the scorecard — and I don’t know anyone that has played it.”

While the Knights don’t have any seniors playing their final rounds, a final farewell does still await.

This will be Rostvedt’s last tournament coaching the Knights, as he accepted a new job to do play-by-play announcing for the University of Mary athletics down in Bismarck.

“I would have loved to stay here another year and see these juniors in their senior year,” Rostvedt said. “That was a bit of the plan. But, things don’t always go that way. It was a job I couldn’t pass up on.”

Winning a state title would be a fitting way to go out, but Rostvedt doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure on the kids.

Instead, he just wants to enjoy these last two rounds with his team and whatever happens, happens.

The players expressed similiar feelings, although they are certainly aware that they have the potential to end the season with unprecedented hardware.

“We just have to play our game,” Matthew Hendrickson said. “If we win a state championship — I don’t know, it’s a far reach — but I think it’s doable.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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