E-S golf ranks fifth at Whitehall, third at Cochrane
by Doug Sands, student writer
The Eleva-Strum golf team claimed two respectable finishes at their meets in Whitehall and Cochrane this week.
The Cardinals suited up four players for their Whitehall match due to a scheduling conflict. In WIAA golf, only the top four players are scored for the team, but a five-man team has a definite advantage if one of their higher players has a bad night of golf. Still, Eleva-Strum showed up with a drive to win. They played effectively to give the team the best chance it had.
Mathew Higley earned a first-place individual finish with a score of 38. Nine strokes behind Higley came Drew Severson with 47, followed by Colin Nyseth with 53 and Cole Nichols with 55.
Coming in first place as a team was Cochrane-Fountain City with 162. Close behind them came Independence with 170, Whitehall with 178, Melrose-Mindoro with 182, Alma-Pepin with 185, Eleva-Strum with 193 and Gilmanton with 264.
Later in the week, the Cardinals traveled to Walnut Grove Golf course in Cochrane. This time, E-S was able to field five players, giving them a distinctive advantage over the previous match.
Higley scored second place as an individual with his score of 38. He was two strokes behind Nick Thorsell of C-FC and one stroke ahead of Logan Vaningan of Melrose-Mindoro. In second place on the Cardinal team was Drew Severson with 44, followed by Colin Nyseth with 52, Cole Nichols with 54, and David Bemis with 55.
C-FC took first place in the team competition with 155, followed by Independence with 178, Eleva-Strum with 188, and Alma-Pepin with 198. Cochrane-Fountain City has won every meet held this year, giving them a serious lead in the conference.
After the match in Cochrane, Higley leads the conference in the individual race for conference medalist. He is currently four points ahead of Mel-Min’s Vaningan.
There are two conference meets left in the season, and the results of those two matches will decide the first-place winner. One match took place at Strum on Monday, May 11, and the last one is an 18-hole match in Mondovi on Monday, May 18.
