By Bruce Karnick

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The spring sports season went by in a flash for many Raider athletes, until now. Now the Raider golfers have roughly two weeks to prepare for sections.

Hastings competed at St. Paul’s Highland National Golf Course on a rainy Thursday morning. Their only match of the week. With the rain, the coaches gathered in the morning to agree on changing the format from 18 holes to nine as rescheduling was not an option due to a variety of conflicts.

Heading into the Conference Championship, the Raiders were tied with Mahtomedi for second. Both teams were well behind Simley who has the McCauley sisters who consistently shoot in the low 30’s so they knew it would be very difficult to catch them. The Raiders ended up claiming first place over the Zephyrs by four strokes.

Head Coach Becky Hartung gave the recap of the day.

“Lauren Skov was bombing her drives and her short game was on as well, she had only 15 putts on the round and scored a 42. Megan Brown was struggling a little bit at the beginning of the round and with a little reassurance came back and also shot a 42. Maddy Daley who has been working hard on her game shot her best score of the season 43. Ashlyn Endres and Lauren Hubbart both shot 47’s. Ashlyn had a little water trouble on the first hole and went in the drink twice and had to take a nine on that hole. She didn’t let it bother her, her mental game is tough and recovered well after the first hole.”

By the end of the day, Simley took first with a 156, Hastings finished second with a 174, Mahtomedi 178, Henry Sibley 193, Hill-Murray 197, and South St. Paul 220.

The boys had a bit more of an active week. First a dual against St. Thomas Academy at Mendakota Country Club. There the Raiders fell 161-176. Individually, Ryan Swanson shot a 43, Luke Savage and Charlie Williams 44, Martin Onnen and Captain Joe Benson 45, Jake Harris 46.

The Conference Championships were held Wednesday at Keller Golf Course and the boys finished third overall with their best team score of the season, a 314. STA won with 301, Mahtomedi 303, Hastings 314, Hill-Murray 320, Simley 337, Henry Sibley 359, and Tartan, 378. South St. Paul does not have enough players to rank with the other teams, they shot a three person 294.

Individually, Williams 75, Swanson, 78, Harris 80 which is his best round this year, Onnen 81, Benson 84 and Savage 89.

Head Coach Matt Klein is ready to see what the boys can do. “I’m looking forward for the boys to get comfortable with their current game. We’ve seen some under par starts of late from multiple players, actually 4 of our top 6 golfers have been under par in the last two weeks. I’m excited to see where our game goes, as we’ve prepared well for Keller and The Jewel, now it’s just enjoying the moment and finding our best.”

Next week the Raiders have a tune-up for sections as they travel south for a duel at The Jewel against Farmington on May 25th, followed by our Section Tournament the following week June 1-2 also at the Jewel Golf Course.

Girls golf competed in the rain at the conference championships placing second behind Simley. Left to Right Megan Brown, Maddie Daly, Lauren Skov. Photo by Bruce Karnick