By John George
Perham boys and girls golf teams are going about things in entirely different ways this spring. Both are among the leaders in the Heart O' Lakes Conference, but they are there using very different rosters.
The Jacket girls are led by a group of seniors, Nikki Mattfeld, Jeanna Kratzke, Jenine Estlick and Jadi Nelson. Throw in a couple of talented underclassmen and you get a team that has finished second in two HOL meets this week and placed third at the 12-team Staples-Motley Invite.
Last week at the HOL at Pelican Rapids, Kratzke led the girls with a 46 as the Jackets shot a 192, good for second place behind the host Vikings. Sandwiched between Kratzke and her fellow seniors was sophomore Leah Richter, who finished fifth overall with a 46.
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On Saturday at the S-M Invite at the Legacy G.C., Perham scored a 386, good for third place. Providence Academy won the team title with a 379, followed by Hopkins with a 384. Nikki Mattfeld led the Jackets with a fifth place round of 93. Kratzke finished ninth with a 95.
Perham returned to HOL action at West Central Area on Monday and again finished second behind Pelican Rapids. Mattfeld was fourth with a 47 and Kratzke was sixth with a 49.
"We've had a good week of competing," girls head coach Cory Solberg said. "We are in second place in the HOL and are excited about golfing at home on Thursday."
The Jacket girls will host the Perham Invite today (April 26) starting at 1 p.m. The invite scheduled for April 24 at Wildflower was canceled and is not expected to me rescheduled.
The boys, on the other hand, are finding some success in the conference thanks to a couple of young guns. With only one senior on the team (Mike Guehna), Perham is going with a youth movement, which includes seventh graders Dan Cavanagh and Zach Phelps and ninth grader Alex Phelps.
"We've got some young guys with a lot of potential," boys head coach Jeff Tweeton said. "It will be interesting to see how they progress."
At the HOL at West Central Area last week, it was veterans Barry Nelson and Nick Dockter, both juniors, who led Perham to a fourth place finish. Agassiz Valley won the meet with a 160. Perham finished with a 179 as Nelson and Dockter each carded a 44.
Things didn't go so well for the young Jackets at their home invite at Perham Lakeside on Saturday. The varsity 'Black' team finished in 13th place with a 370, 51-strokes behind team champ Roseau (319). The 'Gold' team finished 15th (395).
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Cavanagh led the team with an 89. Nelson shot a 93. Guehna and Dockter each finished with 94's.
"We need our top-four guys to start breaking 80," Tweeton said.
Things didn't improve too much on Monday at the Otter Invite in Fergus Falls. Perham finished 10th out of 14 teams with a 354.
Fergus Falls defended their home course with a first place score of 320.
Led by Alex Phelps' score of 86 and with Nelson and Cavanagh both shooting 87's, Perham knocked 16 strokes off their 18-hole score Saturday in Perham.
"We're getting better, but we still have a ways to go," Tweeton said. "The guys need to start showing enough pride to go out and shoot a decent score. They all just need to go out and get in one good round. Put it all together and see what it feels like to have a successful round. Then their confidence will grow and we'll get better."
The Jackets will have HOL meets in Breckenridge today (April 26) and at Hawley on April 30.
Tuesday Update
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Boys HOL at PLGC
The boys HOL golf meet scheduled for Barnesville for Tuesday was moved to Perham Lakeside Golf Club.
Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdal took team honors with a 162. Perham finished second with a 170. D-G-F's Chris Clark was the meet medalist with a round of 39. Perham low score of 41 was turned in by Alex Phelps.
The HOL at Perham scheduled for May 10 will change to a HOL meet at Barnesville.
HOL at Perham (PLGC)
Boys Team Scores
1. H/U-H 162, 2. Perham 170, 3. Agassiz Valley 171, T-4. D-G-F, Frazee 179, T-6. Pelican Rapids, Battle Lake 188, 8. LP-A 192, 9. WCA 199.
Medalist: Chris Clark (DGF) 39.
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Perham Individuals: Alex Phelps 41, Dan Cavanagh 42, Nick Dockter 43, Zach Phelps 44, Barry Nelson 46, Mike Guehna 48.
Thursday, April 19
HOL at WCA (Tipsinah G.C.)
Boys Team Scores
1. Agassiz Valley 160, 2. Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdal 171, 3. D-G-F 173, 4. Perham 179.
Medalist: Taylor Hendrickson (A.V.) 35.
Perham Individuals: Barry Nelson 44, Nick Dockter 44, Shane Lachowitzer 45, Dan Cavanagh 46, Mike Guehna 47.
HOL at Pelican Rapids (Birchwood G.C.)
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Girls Team Scores
1. Pelican Rapids 182, 2. Perham 192, 3. Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdal 232, 4. Barnesville/Rothsay 239, 5. West Central Area 244, 6. Breckenridge 257, 7. Frazee inc., 8. Lake Park-Audubon inc.
Medalist: Fallon Scott (PR) 42.
Perham Individuals: 3. Jeanna Kratzke 46, 5. Leah Richter 46, Nikki Mattfeld 50, Jenine Estlick 50, Jadi Nelson 50, Holly Karkela 54.
Saturday, April 21
Perham Invitational (PLGC)
Boys Team Scores
1. Roseau 319, 2. Bemidji 322, 3. Crookston 324, 4. Moorhead 328, 5. Wahpeton 329, T-6. Thief River Falls, Fargo South 340, 8. Oak Grove 347, T-9. Park Christian, Agassiz Valley 356, 11. Frazee 366, 12. Wadena-Deer Creek 368, 13. Perham Black 370, 14. Pelican Rapids 387, 15. Perham Gold 395, 16. Breckenridge 420, 17. Lake Park-Audubon 434.
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Medalist: Jim Fox (Roseau) 74.
Perham Black: Cavanagh 89, Nelson 93, Guehna 94, Dockter 94, Lachowitzer 96, BenAnderson 101.
Perham Gold: Jason Huus 94, Nick Smith 95, Zach Phelps 96, Jesse Mitchell 110, Cody Dykhoff 114.
S-M Invitatioanl (Legacy G.C.)
Girls Team Scores
1. Providence Academy 379, 2. Hopkins 384, 3. Perham 386, 4. Park Center 402, 5. Moorhead 422, 6. Pelican Rapids 426, 7. Park Rapids Area 438, 8. Rogers 453, 9. Pequot Lakes 463, 10. Wadena-Deer Creek 472, 11. Crosby-Ironton 476 (Incomplete: Duluth East, 99).
Medalist: Ali Nelson (Moorhead) 77.
Perham Individuals: T-5. Mattfeld 93, 9. Kratzke 95, Richter 98, Nelson 100, Karkela 110.
Monday, April 23
Otter Invitational (Pebble Lake G.C.)
Boys Team Scores
1. Fergus Falls 320, 2. Crookston 232, 3. Moorhead 329, 4. H/U-H 332, 5. East Grand Forks 338, 6. Nevis 340, 7. Staples-Motley 341, 8. Thief River Falls 350, 9. Wadena-Deer Creek 352, 10. Perham 354, 11. Minnewaska 355, 12. Park Rapids 358, 13. Pine River-Backus 366, 14. Pelican Rapids 393.
Medalist: Mike Teul (FF) 70.
Perham Individuals: A. Phelps 86, Nelson 87, Cavanagh 87, Guehna 94, Dockter 95, Huus 100.
HOL at WCA (Tipsinah G.C.)
Girls Team Scores
1. Pelican Rapids 189, 2. Perham 201, 3. Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdal 216, 4. Agassiz Valley 225, 5. West Central Area 249, 6. Breckenridge 239, 7. Lake Park-Audubon 268.
Medalist: Nicole Hanson (PR) 43.
Perham Individuals: 4. Mattfeld 47, 6. Kratzke 49, Karkela 52, Nelson 53, Richter 54, Estlick 56.
