Nathan Beitler/MDN Minot North senior Emersyn Kopp tees off at the Minot North Invitational earlier in the season

Last season, the Minot North girls golf team’s goal of qualifying for the state tournament might not have been considered lofty considering the talent on the roster, but it was historic nonetheless, being a program-first.

This season, that goal was more of an expectation, but it was still a goal that needed to be earned rather than just handed over.

The Sentinels earned their spot at the state tournament for the second straight year, finishing second at the Class A West Region qualifier at Heart River Golf Course in Dickinson on Monday, Sept. 22. Minot North shot a team total of 331 to grab one of the top six spots out of the West Region. As a result, the Sentinels will compete at the two-day state tournament as a team in Fargo on Monday, Sept. 29.

“The girls played really well,” Minot North coach Michael DeLorme said. “When you start looking at things, yes you want to go down there and beat Mandan and we feel like we can play with Mandan, but we shot about 10 shots better than our season average today. When you look at the bigger picture, we showed up with some of our best stuff and Mandan just got it done when it mattered most today.”

Mandan defended its region crown, carding a team gross of 323 to win its 10th tournament of the season. The Braves won every West Region tournament this season. The only tournament it didn’t claim was the East-West Classic, where the Braves placed fourth. Mandan and Minot North went 1-2 in nine of 11 tournaments this season, including the last seven.

The other four teams who punched their ticket to state were Bismarck Legacy (344), Bismarck St. Mary’s (350), Bismarck Century (351) and Williston (355).

Seniors Emersyn Kopp and Kinzy Welstad finished second and third, respectively, in the individual competition. Kopp – who entered as the defending tournament champion – carded three birdies on her round, including on the first and 18th holes and finished with a 77. Her day also featured nine pars.

“I hit my irons decent for the first time in a bit, so I felt confident that I could get the ball close to the pin to score and get some birdies,” Kopp said. “And I was able to hit a lot of fairways, which helped with the approach shots. I made a few mistakes here or there that cost me in the end, but overall it was a good round and something I was proud about.”

Welstad played consistently throughout her round, finishing with 13 pars to shoot 78. Entering the tournament, Welstad led the Sentinels with an average round of 78.6.

“It’s kind of what we’ve come to expect from them,” DeLorme said of Welstad and Kopp. “They were right there down the stretch. Both of them put the ball in the fairway and at the end of the day they had chances to make a couple birdies and it was everything you wanted from them.”

Welstad double-bogeyed the par-3 eighth, but regrouped to shoot 1-over the rest of the round to hold on to a top-three finish.

“I’ve proven to myself before that one bad hole isn’t going to ruin a round, so just focusing on the shot in front of me and not getting worked up over a bad one,” Welstad said. “For example, at Watford, I doubled my first hole and ended up winning the tournament. So it’s reminding myself that one bad hole isn’t going to ruin a round.”

Both Kopp and Welstad entered the regional qualifier having already earned a spot at state for the individual competition, hitting the necessary threshold at both the state qualifiers at Souris Valley and Prairie West earlier this year. But the Sentinels were hoping to add a few more teammates to the field, a feat they were able to accomplish on Monday.

In a last-chance effort for golfers to qualify for the individual competition, athletes needed to shoot a 93 or lower. The Sentinels were hoping to qualify both Ally Larson and Kate Bast, who shoot an average round of approximately 91. Larson carded an 87 and Bast an 89 to give them a spot in the field.

“I’m really happy for our team,” Kopp said. “Obviously, we wanted to win it and we’ve had the chances, but we were never really expected to. Our main goal was getting a couple more girls qualified, which we did. It was just a really good day. Besides winning the tournament, we got everything done today.”

Said Welstad: “It’s just great that we were able to do that. We would like to beat Mandan, but we’re all just really proud with how we played today. Ally and Kate put together some great rounds as well as Emersyn. We’re all just proud of what we were able to do today.”

St. Mary’s Lola Huber took home medalist honors with a 75. Huber entered the tournament with the third-best average round at 80.3. Her 75 was the second-best round of the season. Her best came at the Minot North Invite, where she carded a 74.

Mandan’s Brittyn Mettler (79) placed fourth, followed by a tie in fifth, with Williston’s Kali Larson and Mandan’s Isabella Hale both finishing with an 80. Hale was the conference’s top scorer for the season, with an adjusted average of 76.5 when eliminating the two highest tournament scores.

Welstad and Kopp’s adjusted average scores earned them both all-conference and all-state honors. Joining them were Hale, Huber and Mandan’s Stray Ressler and Brooklyn Monteith.

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year,” Kopp said. “I didn’t play as well as I wanted to. I worked really hard this summer and maybe didn’t always see the results that I wanted, but I was able to turn it around a couple times and I defended my title at Vardon, so that made the season better. At some points I didn’t really know if I was going to be able to win a tournament, but I’m glad I could put some low scores down and still get all-conference and all-state and just really enjoy the end of the season.”

Minot High finished eighth as a team with a score of 365, 10 strokes out of the final qualifying spot. While the Majettes won’t be competing at state as a team, they will be represented in the individual tournament.

Minot High’s Katie Thomas had already qualified entered the tournament with her 83 at Souris Valley, but both Taylor DesLauriers and Claire Hendrickson shot 90 to give the Majettes three representatives in the field. DesLauriers trimmed five shots off her average round and Hendrickson bested her average by 13 strokes to send them to Fargo on Monday.