Lakers crowned Section 8AA champions, obliterates competition by 66 strokes

BEMIDJI

— A bump down to Class AA faired well for the Detroit Lakes girls golf team who punched their ticket back to the state tournament on Tuesday, June 4.

The Lakers extended its 20-stroke first-round lead to 66 after shooting a combined 312 after the second round. Detroit Lakes was crowned Section 8AA champions with a team score of 632. Fergus Falls took second place with a score of 698. Hawley’s Sophie Cook was the individual champion with a 148 (73, 75)

“I definitely had confidence in our team that we could do this,” senior Laura Syltie said. “Before our round, Dustin (Martin) said to ‘just play like we normally do.’ I think everybody went out there and did what they needed to do, and we were able to win today.”

Syltie and eighth grader Sohpie Christianson led the way tied for third place with final scores of 156. Syltie improved on her first-round score of 80 by four strokes for the third-best second-round score of 76. Christianson shot a top-three score of 77 after the first but fell back a couple of spots ending the second day with a 79.

Senior Hanna Knoop and sophomore Tatum Gatheridge were second in line sharing sixth place with scores of 161. Knoop was tied for eighth place after shooting an 11-over par 83 but came back with the fourth-best score on Day 2 with a 6-over par 78. Gatheridge ended the second day with the fifth-best score of 79, three strokes better than her first-round 82.

Junior Sydney Miller ended the tournament in ninth place with a 164. She shot an 81 in the first round and an 83 after the second day. Freshman Jaycie Sliper rounded out the scores with an 11th-place finish and a 173. Sliper shot an 86 and an 87 after 36 holes on the links.

“They just went out there with our normal goal as a team which is we wanted to have four scores at 80 and under,” head coach Dustin Martin said. “That’s how they went out and played. I think we had four in the 70s today.”

The Lakers didn’t see a golfer fall below the 15th-best score after both rounds. All six girls placed within the top 15 when it was all said and done.

“I think we all just had a hunger all season to win, and we all wanted to end our season with a bang and go do well in 2-A state,” Syltie said. “so we were all really excited this season. And It started off really strong. I think that just drove us through to the end.”

As Detroit Lakes’ lead grew more and more throughout the day, maybe the girls would stop and check to see where they stand among the competition. That isn’t how this Laker team rolls.

“None of us are scoreboard watchers during the round, but Dustin tells us not do that, so we don’t get nervous,” Syltie said. “But we had a rain delay today, so Sophie (Christianson) and I were on our last hole, so we all looked at the leaderboard. We saw that we were winning by however many shots. I think that all made us pretty excited and at ease when Sophie and I had to go back out and finish.”

Detroit Lakes was the Section 8AAA champions in 2023 upsetting the previous champions Alexandria. They finished fourth at the Class AAA state meet but with the new realignments this season, the Lakers were sent down to Class AA. With the same team from last year, Syltie and her teammates didn’t let the change get to their heads.

“We were a little thinking that our schedule all season was going to change, and thankfully it didn’t,” Syltie said. “We were able to face some good tough competition coming to 2-A. We didn’t really look at it any differently. We still treated our opponents like they were worthy opponents, and we had to make sure we were doing our best out there just like we would in.”

As Martin has said before, the goal coming into the season was never for it to be perfect. But the chips fell into place and the Lakers took first place in all their competitions except for one. They reach their goal of making it to the state tournament and Martin couldn’t be more excited for his team.

“It’s where you want to finish your season every year,” Martin said. “So the girls are looking forward to it, and we’re going to make the most of our opportunity.”

The girls will be accompanied by the boys, who also were crowned Section 8AA champions, June 11-12 at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan, Minn.

SECTION 8AA TOURNAMENT FINAL TEAM SCORES

1-Detroit Lakes 632 (320, 312); 2-Fergus Falls 698 (340, 358); 3-Hawley 702 (358, 344); 4-Crookston 716 (349, 367); T-5-Roseau 760 (379, 381); T-5-Park Rapids 760 (378, 382)