Ally Larson joined the duo the following week at the East-West Classic to officially form Minot North’s first four-year senior class. At the time, the trio had no idea what to expect over the next four years, but what ended up occurring was more than any of them could ever have envisioned.

In four short years, the Sentinels went from a team not big enough to officially post a team score at a tournament and a team lacking the necessary scores to qualify for the state tournament, to one that regular placed second as a group, won individual medalist honors and easily found itself among the top six in the region to get to the end-of-the-year tournament. On Monday, Sept. 29, the Minot North senior class will take part in its final tournament together as the Sentinels tee off in the two-day Class A state tournament at Fargo Country Club.

“We’re just going to enjoy our last tournament together,” Welstad said. “This is a special group to all of us. We kind of started the group. Just having one last tournament and really enjoying it and just putting together some good rounds that we’re proud of to end the season.”

Both Kopp and Welstad will be participating in their fourth state tournament in the individual competition and second as a team qualifier. The Sentinels qualified for their first state tournament in program history last year and placed ninth overall and fourth among West Region participants.

Submitted Photo Minot North seniors Kinzy Welstad, Emersyn Kopp and Ally Larson will all be competing in both the team and individual portions of the two-day Class A girls golf state tournament beginning Monday, Sept. 29, at Fargo Country Club.

The Sentinels will be well-represented in the individual field, as it qualified a program-record four golfers this season. Joining Kopp and Welstad in the competition is Larson and sophomore Kate Bast, who both qualified during the West Region qualifier last week. Both will be competing in the individual tournament for the first time.

“Some of us are hoping for high individual finishes, but hopefully we can get a top-five team finish if we put together two good days,” Kopp said. “We just want to have fun. It’s our last tournament with our group of seniors, the first group of our program. We just want to have fun and go out good.”

All three of Minot North’s four-year seniors have found success this season, no one more than Welstad, who was named the senior athlete of the year after winning three medalist honors. She finished with seven rounds in the 70s in 11 events, with her best round of the year being a 74, which she accomplished twice, once at the Turtle Mountain Invite at Crossroads Golf Club and again at the Century Invite at Riverwood Golf Course. Welstad finished with the second-best adjusted average round score – where the two highest scores of the 11 rounds are tossed out – in the West Region at 77.4. Only Mandan’s Izzy Hale at 76.5 had a lower average score.

Kopp – last year’s West Region Tournament individual medalist – had the fifth-best adjusted average round score in the WDA at 80. She carded six rounds in the 70s this season and shot a 76 to win the Minot Invite at Vardon Golf Club.

Larson has shown marked improvement since her freshmen campaign. In four years, Larson has cut 27 strokes off her average round. As a senior, she averaged a 90.9, with her career best coming at the St. Mary’s Invite at Hawktree Golf Course and at the West Regional qualifier at Heart River, where she recorded 87s.

Submitted Photo Minot North seniors Kinzy Welstad, Emersyn Kopp and Ally Larson will all be competing in both the team and individual portions of the two-day Class A girls golf state tournament beginning Monday, Sept. 29, at Fargo Country Club.

Despite not playing an event at Fargo Country Club this season, the Sentinels do have limited familiarity with the golf course. The private country club with more than 100 years of history to its name is a par-72 course ranging anywhere in distance from 5,034 yards to 6,972 yards.

“They’ve all seen it at least once,” Minot North coach Michael DeLorme said. “Emersyn and Kinzy have played it a couple times now. We did get down there earlier for a practice round, so they’re familiar with it. There’s still going to be some learning as we get out there Sunday and play our practice round. I know when we were out there earlier this year, the rough was extremely thick, extremely challenging and the greens are probably going to be as quick as anything we play all year.”

Another aspect of the state tournament that the Sentinels have seen once is the East Region. Teams from both sides of the state teed off in the same event for the only time way back in early August at the two-day East-West Crossover at Jamestown Country Club. Minot North finished fifth, posting the second-best score out of the West Region behind Mandan, which placed fourth. West Fargo Sheyenne, Grand Forks Red River and Fargo Shanley were the top three finishers.

Much like the East-West Classic, the state tournament is a two-day event. Those are the only two two-day tournaments on the calendar each year, which changes the approach and the mindset compared to the standard single-day tournaments. More holes means more mental focus.

“I was always told when I played two-day events growing up that you can’t win the event on Day 1, but you can certainly lose it,” DeLorme said. “So just understanding that 36 holes is a lot of holes of golf and we’re going to have some bad holes in there and it’s how we bounce back and keep a positive attitude and move on to the next shot.”

Grand Forks Red River is the defending state champion and GFRR’s Ella Speidel is the defending state individual medalist. She won the event by six strokes over West Fargo Sheyenne’s Payton Stocker and Zoe Keene with a two-day total of 151.

All three are in the field this year as well, but Fargo Davies’ Rose Solberg enters with the lowest average round score in the state at 72.8. She carded a 68 when the East Region played a tournament at Fargo Country Club earlier this season. Solberg won the East Regional qualifier last week with a 72 and was also the regular season champion and the senior athlete of the year. Keene (74.1), Speidel (75.5), Stocker (77.3) and Red River’s Alexis Fabian (78.8) are the top five scorers from the EDC. Solberg, Keene and Speidel boast the top three average scores in the state, followed by Hale, Stocker and Welstad at sixth.

Sheyenne is both the top scoring team in the EDC as well as the state with an average team score of 311.7. Mandan is second at 326.1, followed by Red River (331.1), Fargo Shanley (332.5) and Minot North (341).

While the state tournament serves as one final tournament for the Minot North senior class after a rewarding four-year journey, the Sentinels still want to go out with a memorable showing. They had a goal all season of winning a tournament, which Mandan thwarted with its historic season. Now the goal is to have the best performance from the West Region, which would again mean besting the Braves.

“Our goal is going to be to finish top five,” DeLorme said. “I would still like to be the top team from the West when we get down there. So we’re going to go down there thinking that we can be the high finisher from the West and hopefully put together two good rounds together.”

For the seniors, it’s cherishing the moment.

“I’m going to soak in every moment and try to enjoy it,” Welstad said.