Blue Jays wrap up 2022 golf season
Oct. 5—JAMESTOWN — Sometimes it's not about the score, rather it's about the process.
At least that was the case for the Jamestown High School golf team this fall.
The Blue Jays finished their season in 12th place at the 2022 Class A State Golf Meet. The host team shot a two-round total of 773. Bismarck Century won the team title with a score of 636.
Olivia Sorlie ended her junior season with a second-round 96 to total a two-round total of 183. Sorlie ended up tying for 47th place. Isabel LeFevre notched a two-day total of 189 to place her 63rd. Mylee Michel placed 75th in her first-ever state tournament with a score of 102 while Aspen Humes notched a 104.
Belle Sjostrom carded a 102 in her second round while McKenna Nieswaag ended her freshman season with a total of 240.
"Heading in we kind of had the mindset that the meet was at our home course and that we wanted to just play and enjoy it," JHS head golf coach Tracy Iliff said. "We just wanted to compete from within ourselves.
Iliff said looking at the team scores from both the East and West Region meets, the Blue Jays knew that it would be a tough challenge to place any higher than they did.
"We kind of had a mix of scores throughout the tournament," Iliff said. "But the challenge was to go out there and look to improve upon what we did at West Region and at the East-West Classic."
While it wasn't the Jays' best performance of the season, Iliff kept things in perspective, noting that the Jays got to the state tournament and were able to compete as a team, something the team wasn't able to accomplish last season.
"We've grown throughout the last year for sure and our team is young," Iliff said. "We have three freshmen, one sophomore and two juniors. The fact that we got here in the first place is a huge victory and I tried to remind the team of that.
"They will have the opportunity within the next couple of years to make improvements. Hopefully, they can take these last two days as a learning experience and I hope they enjoyed being at State and what that was like."
Iliff and her squad got to State because of the steady improvement they made all season. The team's best score came at the Dickinson Invite where they tallied a 355.
"We had so many opportunities where girls were beating their personal records," Iliff said. "It happened almost every tournament where someone made a big improvement. We got to enjoy that at every tournament."
Iliff said the Jays also had chances to bring some of their younger players, like Michel, Nieswaag and Sjostrom to some of the conference tournaments which only served to mature them as golfers.
"I hope they learned a lot of things about the game of golf, their mental stamina and their physical stamina," Iliff said. "I just want them to look at this season as a growing experience."
Team results
Two round totals
1. Century 636; 2. G.F. Red River 646; 3. Fargo Davies 652; 4. Mandan 658; 5. Legacy 689; 6. W.F. Sheyenne 696; 7. Wahpeton 699; 7. Minot 699; 9. Shanley 704; 10. St. Mary's 709; 11. Fargo North 735; 12. Jamestown 773.
Blue Jay results
T47. Olivia Sorlie 183; T63. Isabel LeFevre 189; 75. Mylee Michel 201; T76. Aspen Humes 202; 83. Belle Sjostrom 215; 85. McKenna Nieswaag 240
