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SECTION GIRLS GOLF

The North Branch girls golf team has made incredible strides throughout the season, shaving strokes off their game every match.

But, it would take a flawless performance from the band of underclassmen to earn a trip to the state tournament in their stacked section at Grand National in Hinckley.

On Wednesday, May 21, the girls finished in eighth place in the Section 7AA meet, with Grand Rapids, Forest Lake and Elk River grabbing the top three spots to move to the next day.

The Vikings' 410 was tied with Princeton, and within eight strokes of cracking the top five. Chisago Lakes (406), Cambridge-Isanti (402), and Duluth East (402) narrowly edged out North Branch in the tournament.

North Branch individual scores

Katie Foley 95

Cassedy Coleman 103

Laurel Dresel 104

Emily Juve 108

Kelsey Anderson 129

Lauren Ibinger 146

"Em, Laurel and Cassedy all played very well," said interim coach Kelli Perrault. "I was very happy with Cassedy, who's only an eighth-grader. That was only her second time ever that she's played 18 holes. It's good for her future."

Katie Foley finished just two places out of qualifying for the state tournament by shooting an outstanding 87 on Memorial Day at Grand National in Hinckley

The North Branch sophomore used a 95 Wednesday, May 21 to earn her way into the Section 7AAA finals. She played very steady golf on the second day to climb past a lot of good golfers to put herself into contention for a place in the top five individuals.

Forest Lake won the team title with a two-day total of 673, three strokes better than first round leader Grand Rapids. Ranger sophomore Betsy Kelly showed that she deserves to be considered one of the best golfers in the state by carding a 149 for the two rounds.

On Monday the conditions were relatively pleasant to start the day. However, the clouds thickened, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped steadily as the day progressed. "Katie sunk a 10-footer on the first green and parred the second hole to set the tone for the day. I can't say enough about well she handled the pressure," said Perrault. "She played very steady all day long. While the deteriorating weather conditions made it easy for some of the girls to fade as the day went by, she never let it bother her."

The Forst Lake team, plus the top five individuals (excluding FL) qualified for the state at Bunker Hills in two weeks. Foley's day-two performance pulled her into seventh.

"This was a great way for Katie to end the '08 season and has to give her a lot of confidence to build on for next year," Perrault said.

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