“I think it’s really exciting for our team to come this far,” Springfield’s Ava Lipetzky said. “We only have five girls. We work really hard, so I’m so proud of my team for putting in all this effort.”

Lipetzky led the Springfield girls with a third-place finish in the first leg, scoring a 97 in windy conditions.

“I think my approach shots worked really well today,” she said. “Putting was a little tough, but I think with the wind it’s kind of hard to play with the wind. And these greens are a lot different than our course, but I think it went OK.”

Lipetzky parred Hole 3 on her first go-around of the nine-hole course, and she added 11 bogeys and six double bogeys.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral's Chloe Gilles hits the ball off the tees during the first leg of the Tomahawk-Valley Conference Girls Golf Tournament Wednesday at Winthrop Golf Club.

Mavri Winkelmann and Kynslee Kastner joined Lipetzky in the top five, placing fourth (99) and fifth (100), respectively. Annie Kuehn rounded out the top four scorers for the Tigers, scoring a 112 to tie for 16th.

Springfield finished the day with a team score of 408. Following the Tigers were last year’s conference champions in Sleepy Eye United (418), while Alden-Conger placed third (424). Next came St. James/Madelia (457), Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther (459), New Ulm Cathedral (472), Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (476), Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (482), Martin County West (501) and Wabasso (539).

Individually, GHEC/T/ML eighth-grader Charlotte Berhow led the way with a 94. Following were SEU’s Sam Price (96), Lipetzky, Winkelmann, Kastner, SEU’s Ella Pollard (102) and Alden-Conger’s Courtney Bakkedahl (102). Alden-Conger’s Bethany Yokiel and SEU’s Kiara Murphy tied for eighth with 103s, while BHLS’s Ava Ahlbrecht shot a 105 for 10th.

Emma Hoffmann led the Cathedral girls by placing 13th (108), while Anika Lee paced GFW by placing 14th (111). Jaylyn Welter was the top Cedar Mountain finisher, taking 19th (113), while Alexis Jensen led Wabasso by placing 35th (123).

The second leg of the tournament will continue on May 4 at Oakdale Golf Club. Lipetzky said the team will have to stay strong through the remaining two legs to maintain the advantage they built in the first leg.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Springfield's Ava Lipetzky chips the ball onto the green during the first leg of the Tomahawk-Valley Conference Girls Golf Tournament Wednesday at Winthrop Golf Club.

“We need to keep working hard and stay positive,” she said. “I think our team has a really good dynamic, so I think we just need to keep working well together as a team.”