Staff photo by Jake Calhoun Above: New Ulm’s Glavine Schugel hits an approach shot on Hole 18 of Day 1 of the Class AA state golf meet.

JORDAN — After finishing his front-9, New Ulm eighth-grader Aiden Guggisberg tossed his ball into a pond in frustration — a display that could have perfectly represented New Ulm’s first day of competition at state.

Day 1 of the Class AA state golf meet was full of frustration for the New Ulm boys’ golf team, which tied Blue Earth Area for seventh place overall in the team standings when the first 18 were complete.

Freshman Glavine Schugel, who has been the Eagles’ most-consistent scorer all season long, was not particularly happy with his performance.

“I had three 3-putts, I’d hit greens — obviously couldn’t 2-putt, didn’t make pars,” Schugel said. “I wasn’t hitting good approach shots, I just wasn’t hitting the ball well at all.”

Schugel tied for 27th overall with a 4-over 76, which was frustrating for the Section 3AA champion.

“He struggled a little bit, he didn’t get anything going too great on the front side so he’s a little bit frustrated,” New Ulm coach Dan Janke said of Schugel. “Couldn’t get any birdies to drop. Four holes, had just a little bit of a miscue, got bogeys on those. He was a little bit frustrated that nothing was going great.”

After shooting a 40 on the front-9, Schugel began the back-9 with a birdie en route to finishing with a 36. The other players who shot 76 on Day 1 were Hermantown’s Dylan Kolquist, Minnehaha Academy’s Carter Bell and Becker’s Alex Stanz.

“You’ve just gotta trust what you’re trying to do, trust how you’re trying to hit the ball,” Schugel said. “Most of the time after that, it’ll work. It’s all mental.”

Senior Gunnar Cowing had one of the early bright spots for the Eagles, who are making their first team appearance at state since 2013, with a team-leading 37 on the front-9. He ended up as the team’s second-best scorer with an 81, which tied him for 58th place on the overall leaderboard.

“That’s big; I guess his back’s been bothering him for a while — he’s been struggling a little bit at the wrong time during the season,” Janke said. “But they got it straightened out, he’s feeling better and came out ready to play and did it.”

Guggisberg had a frustrating front-9, during which he shot a 44. The eighth-grader, who was the team’s No. 2 scorer during the Section 3AA meet, turned it around with a 39 in the latter half after settling down.

“The 3rd hole he had a quad — took an 8 on a par-4 — but then he settled down and decided to see what kind of scores he could get not counting that one hole,” Janke said.

But as for Schugel, his expectations for Day 2 are still high.

“I’ve gotta play better,” Schugel said.

Frauenholtz weathers 1st day at state

New Ulm sophomore Abbey Frauenholtz made her state debut with a 94 on Day 1 of the state girls’ meet on Tuesday afternoon.

By the time the girls began teeing off within the noon-1 p.m. hour, the clouds dissipated and the sun began to shine brightly. With that, the wind began to pick up, making things difficult for the girls competing.

“Wherever I would aim, the wind would push it to the right or left and it was hard to keep it where you wanted it,” Frauenholtz said. “If you lined up with the wind, then the wind would stop and then you’d hit it off the tee 15 yards left. If you had a front wind or a head wind, it was hard to get the ball going anywhere. That’s the toughest part about the wind is I just can’t get the ball anywhere. It just stopped it.”

Even still, Frauenholtz said the challenge of competing at state was even greater than what she expected.

“It’s a great experience and I love that I can experience it at a young age so that if I advance to it in the next few years that I’ll know what to expect,” she said. “The competition is tough, which is great. I just love watching the competition and I love playing at the course. I love the challenge of it.”

Minnewaska Area’s Ashlyn Guggisberg, who won the Section 3AA girls’ meet, leads the Class AA field with a 73. Six golfers shot under 80 with 31 different golfers shooting under 90 on the first day.

With that, the pressure is not really on Frauenholtz, which means Wednesday can be a valuable learning experience for what might be her next two state appearances.

“Now I remember the course and now I know what clubs to hit and what not to hit and what to aim for,” Frauenholtz said. “I think the second day is gonna be better.”

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Class AA state boys’ meet — Day 1

Individual leaderboard

T-1. Lincoln Cizek (HFC) 35-33 68

T-1. Cecil Belisle (Red Wing) 34-34 68

T-3. Jack Michel (HFC) 32-37 69

T-3. Esten Stensrud (Minnewaska Area) 36-33 69

T-3. Jacob Zosel (Morris Area) 36-33 69

…

T-27. Glavine Schugel (New Ulm) 36-40 76

T-58. Gunnar Cowing (New Ulm) 44-37 81

T-68. Aiden Guggisberg (New Ulm) 39-44 83

T-82. Matthew Janke (New Ulm) 46-41 87

85. Alex Glowacki (New Ulm) 46-50 96

86. Jacob Runck (New Ulm) 52-54 106

Team standings

1. The Blake School 292

2. Detroit Lakes 294

3. Holy Family Catholic 295

4. Hermantown 305

5. St. Cloud Cathedral 310

6. Lake City 313

T-7. New Ulm 327

T-7. Blue Earth Area 327

Class AA state girls’ meet — Day 1

1. Ashlyn Guggisberg (Minnewaska Area) 37-36 73

2. Anni Heck (Visitation) 39-36 75

3. Lexi Geolat (Lake City) 40-36 76

T-4. Alex Stone (Pequot Lakes) 41-36 77

T-4. Alayna Eldred (Osakis) 40-37 77

…

T-41. Abbey Frauenholtz (New Ulm) 49-45 94

Team standings

1. Lake City 332

2. Detroit Lakes 337

3. Visitation 345

4. Minnewaska Area 347

5. Breck 351

6. International Falls 355

7. Jordan 372

8. Osakis 414