Freshman medals at boys meet

By JEREMY BEHNKE — Journal Sports Editor






WASECA — Fairmont’s Myles Pfingsten saved his best South Central Conference golf round for last, and judging by the way the freshman played Thursday, opposing teams in the conference will have someone else to worry about now.

Pfingsten shot a season-best 71 at Lakeside Golf Course to win the conference title based on season points. He accumulated 130 points throughout the SCC schedule, two points better than Blue Earth Area’s Jon Trasamar and Waseca’s Travis Chadderdon.

Pfingsten’s 71 was four strokes better than Chadderdon (75) and five better than Trasamar, a perennial favorite who shot a 76. New Ulm’s Tye Kjellberg and Fairmont’s Ryan Stevens each shot a 78 and Waseca’s Nick Janssen shot an 80. BEA’s Tom More and Fairmont’s Connor O’Sell rounded out the Top 8 with 80s.

Pfingsten knew he was doing well after his front nine score of 36, and at that point he knew he was considered one of the favorites.

“I wasn’t quite sure, but then I heard that Jon [Trasamar] came in with a 2-over, and I kinda just fed off that,” Pfingsten said. “I had a lot of ups and downs today and my short game really saved me.”

And for the freshman, it was a good feeling playing his best golf at the conference meet with the subsection meet not far behind.

“That’s definitely a good feeling,” he said. “That gives me a lot of confidence, especially for the team because our team did really well too.”

Fairmont won Thursday’s SCC meet with a team score of 316 and Waseca was second with a 322. The teams tied with a season score of 30. New Ulm was third Thursday with a 339 and it finished third in the season standings with 24 points. BEA shot a 340 for the meet and finished with 18 points, and the Bucs were followed by St. Peter (363, 10) and St. James (431, 4).

As for New Ulm, the Eagles were led by Kjellberg’s 78. Scott Paa battled both illness and injury as he shot an 85, and Kurk Altmann (87) and Jordan Burkhart (89) rounded out the scoring for the Eagles.

Fairmont was led by Pfingsten, Stevens, O’Sell and Ben Rosol (85).

Fairmont coach Brad Haugen said Pfingsten’s score really helped the Cardinals believe they could win the meet.

“As our team goes, typically we get that one low round, and the other three guys will come in with nice averages,” Haugen said. “But we need that one low round, so getting him out there was nice.”

The Top 7 golfers in the SCC points-wise were also named All-Conference. Pfingsten led the way, followed by Chadderdon and Trasamar, Kjellberg (109 points), Janssen (105), Paa (104) and Stevens (104).

The Eagles will have the weekend to prepare for the subsection meet in Worthington Monday.



Fairmont (316): Myles Pfingsten 71, Ryan Stevens 78, Connor O’Sell 82, Ben Rosol 85. Other Fairmont scores: Jake Humpal 87, Travis Twitchell 101.

Waseca (322): Travis Chadderdon 75, Nick Janssen 80, Jon Pederson 83, Jordan Prins 84. Other Waseca scores: Josh Pederson 85, Jordan Bonneur 96.

New Ulm (339): Tye Kjellberg 78, Scott Paa 85, Kurk Altmann 87, Jordan Burkhart 89. Other New Ulm scores: Brooks Guggisberg 93, Nate Retzlaff 100.

BEA (340): Jon Trasamar 76, Tom More 82, Andy Aukes 88, Derek Abel 94. Other BEA scores: Thane Nowak 97, Nate Glimsdal 101.

St. Peter (363): Dayne Bartlett 86, Kyle O’Connell 89, Laird Mueller 92, Jacob Uhler 96. Other St. Peter scores: Brandon Bakker 97, Chris Amsden 100.

St. James (431): Erik Noren 97, Chris Carvatt 102, Ben Reckow 111, Lance Peterson 121. Other St. James scores: Joey Steinle, Cheyenne Connel 123.