Adam Papin/MDN Minot North’s Kaden Carlson tees off on the tenth tee during a WDA tournament at Minot on Monday.

Brock Jones teed off at Souris Valley Golf Course for the final time as a member of the Minot High golf program. He made the most of the moment, shooting a 2-under 70 to take medalist honors for the Magi.

“It was my first time breaking par ever,” said Jones. “Even in practice rounds, so it feels amazing.”

Minot head coach Shane Hannegrefs wasn’t surprised Jones was able to post such a score. “He’s shown he can play; he just hasn’t broken through that barrier. He got off to a nice, fast start today. We knew he could do it. And now he’s proved us all right.”

Despite Jones claiming medalist honors for the Magi, it was third straight tournament Minot watched someone else go home victors, and once again it was rival Century that bested them. Century won with a team score of 307, fueled by four golfers with rounds in the 70s. Minot finished five strokes back with a 312. St. Mary’s (316), Jamestown (319) and Williston (326) rounded out the top five.

“It’s always a fun battle with Minot,” said Century head coach Preston Brown. “And now it’s getting even more fun with a couple other teams sneaking up. They’re getting better every week.”

“Today, we got off to a really slow start, so I was really proud of our guys with how they bounced back on the back nine. We met them on the turn, checked in with them, and nothing was really going right. They were able to turn their attitudes around and find something positive to put their rounds back together,” said Brown.

After back-to-back 68s earlier this month, Kasen Rostad has regressed somewhat of late. On Monday, Rostad double bogeyed the first hole, before settling down and carding a 3-over 75. His play off the tee has been a big reason why.

“His driver is just not going quite where he wants it. If we can get that going again, he’s going to put some really good scores together.”

Other Minot High scores included Tyler Bast (82), Easton Bradley (85), Parker Argent (88) and Bennet Bartsch (90).

“We struggled around the greens more today than we have, so we have some work to do. Hopefully, we get through our next tournament, and then we can really spend a lot of time working on our short game,” said Hannegrefs.

Minot North faced a challenging course today that proved problematic at times for the young Sentinels. Walter Langhans paced them with an 88. Kyler Weishaar (94), Teegan Kangel (99) and Kaden Carlson (104) were the other finishers.

“I think we got frustrated today,” said Hannegrefs who also serves as Minot North’s head coach. “And it can be harder for them to bounce back. They’re considerably younger than their counterparts at Minot High, so to bounce back is more of a challenge.”

“But those kids love the game of golf, and they will keep battling.”

Both teams will close out their regular season today when they travel to the Links of North Dakota for the Williston Invite at 10 a.m. Then it will be on to the post-season and the West Region Tournament on May 30, at Heart River Golf Course in Dickinson.