Hitting the back nine

Carrington got a lot of swings of the club into their muscle memory over two weeks-plus of meets spanning May 6 to last Wednesday, May 22.

Four of those five events were in the Fargo to suburban-Fargo area, and the final meet this past Wednesday was the Region 2 individual qualifier at CrossRoads Golf Club.

The Cards began that gauntlet of meets in Oxbow, scoring a 423. Central Cass took the team victory with a 358, behind junior Jake Thompson's winning 86 scorecard in a day where golfers struggled to shoot decent rounds.

Gabe Ricter had the top score for CHS with 102, followed by Callen Garber (103), Wyatt Weninger (108), Hunter Bachmeier (110), Easton Mittleider (111) and Tyson Scanson (138).

Two days later, on May 8, the team participated in the Rose Creek meet. Oak Grove (316) took the title, and the Grovers' talented sophomore, Aidan Zuger, won the meet with a 73. Carrington's score was 376.

Grady Shipman shot 85 for the Cards to lead the way. Down the line were Max Whitman (93), Ricter (96), Mittleider (102), Garber (105) and Ethan Roller (109).

Next up was a two-day swing at Fargo Country Club on Monday, May 13, and the first Region 2 individual qualifier at Maple River Golf Club in Mapleton on Tuesday.

Kindred's Kyle Campbell won both meets, shooting 72 at FCC and a blistering 69 at Maple River, and the team champions were Central Cass in Fargo (302) and Oak Grove (307) in Mapleton.

Scores from Fargo, where CHS carded a season-best 360, included Shipman (80), Ricter (86), Garber (97), Roller (97), Mittleider (108) and Whitman (109).

State qualifiers at the Maple River meet were Campbell, Thompson, Oak Grove golfers William Olson, Ryland Kietzer, Andrew Bilstad and Zuger, Hunter Bindas of Kindred, Cole Holzer of Central Cass, Jacob Rider of Northern Cass and Sam Ziemer of Central Cass.

At MRGC, Weninger's 93 was the top Cardinal round, followed by a 96 from Ricter, 103 by both Bachmeier and Mittleider, Garber with a 106 and Ewan Aberle at 109.

The final regular season meet of the season was last Wednesday, and it was the second regional qualifying meet on the home CrossRoads course. To qualify for the State B meet in Carrington June 4-5, a golfer is required to shoot an 18-hole score of 79 or lower, as was the case in Mapleton.

State qualifiers from the Carrington individual qualifying meet were not known at press time.

The Region 2 team qualifier will be this Tuesday, May 28, also at CrossRoads. The 79-shot qualifying standard still applies for individuals, but at the team qualifier, the top 10 finishers also automatically make the state field, including any ties.

Teams can qualify for state as a group if they finish either in the top three in the region, or shoot 32 strokes or less over par as a team for the four lowest-scoring golfers.