Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Mackenzie Lothert of Springfield takes a shot during the sixth hole of the Tomahawk Conference girls’ golf meet (Day 3) on Monday at Sleepy Eye Golf Club.

SLEEPY EYE — Heading into the third and final leg of the Tomahawk Conference girls’ golf meet on Monday, Makenna Winkelmann sat just 3 points behind her Springfield teammate Mackenzie Lothert.

With points counting for double in Day 3, Winkelmann turned in her first No. 1 finish of the meet, propelling her to a conference championship at Sleepy Eye Golf Club. Her performance on Monday, where she shot an 86, also helped lead the Springfield girls to yet another Tomahawk title with a team score of 377.

Lothert ended up shooting a 93 (fourth overall) and ended up second in total overall points after three days (74) behind Winkelmann’s 77 points.

“We always kind of knew that we’d be close,” Winkelmann said of Lothert. “We all support each other, so I would have been happy for her if she would have won regardless. But I guess for us, we just kind of play our own game and have our mental game on top.”

Winkelmann drained a birdie on Hole 4, Par 5, and it certainly helped her start things off early on the right foot.

Rain began to fall during the final five holes for Winkelmann, but she said that she pushed through it by keeping her mental game focused.

This was the fourth straight Tomahawk Conference title that the Springfield girls have taken home and Winkelmann said that she was very thankful that she was able to be part of the team the past few years.

“We start with a group of girls and work from there,” Winkelmann said. “We’re just fortunate to have all the talent we have on the team. We’ve got a lot of solid players … A big part of our success goes to our coach, Dillon Schultz. He’s the one that’s put in hours of his time, in and out of season, preparing us mentally and physically, setting goals for us. That’s been a big part of it for us — how we set our goals and carry them out.”

Finishing behind Springfield on the day in second was Cedar Mountain (428), followed by New Ulm Cathedral (470) and Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (471). Minnesota Valley Lutheran, Sleepy Eye United, Wabasso and Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart were all incomplete.

Kayla Goblirsch of Cathedral carded a 91, good for second on the day, while BLHS’s Audree Ginsburg shot a 92 for third. Ginsburg finished the meet third overall in points (69.6), while Goblirsch finished fourth (65).

Laffen leads SEU to third straight Tomahawk title as co-op

FAIRFAX — Sleepy Eye United picked up a first-place finish on Monday at Mayflower Country Club with a score of 339 in the third leg of the Tomahawk Conference boys’ golf meet.

That led SEU to its third consecutive Tomahawk Conference title as a co-op and senior Ben Laffen played a big role in the win.

Carding a 73 for his third, first-place finish of the meet, Laffen took home his fifth straight individual title. Laffen knew that it would be vital to turn in another solid performance on Monday because of how close the Springfield boys were to catching SEU.

SEU was just 2 points ahead of Springfield heading into Monday, but SEU ended up taking first again in the third day of the meet, finishing above second-place Springfield (346).

Laffen said that there wasn’t too much for him to brag about but nothing to talk “junk” about either. He did start things out in good condition though.

“I started the day off really well with a birdie,” Laffen said. “Then my momentum just kind carried throughout the day and allowed me to swing comfortably and just kind of play my game, play relaxed, stay loose.”

The boys also ran into some rain, but Laffen said that it wasn’t too bad until it began to come down more while he was on the 17th hole.

“I’ve played in conditions like that before, but on this course, when the greens are wet, they don’t really like to spin,” Laffen said. “So that kind of played a factor in it.”

Obviously the rain didn’t bother Laffen enough to throw him off his game too much, as he added another title to his growing list of accomplishments over the years.

The senior complimented Springfield as a young team to watch out for next year. He said that his guys will stick in there, though, and he expects to see a good battle next year for the Tomahawk crown.

Until then, Laffen hopes to move on and perform well as a team at sections this year with goals of making it back to state as a team.

“One of my goals would be just to make it as far as I can with the team,” Laffen said. “This is a great group of guys. And if it just so happens that we don’t make it to state as a team, I’m sure we’ll have several individuals advancing, and it may even be a team experience that way. But obviously the goal is to just take it one meet at a time and continually get better and make it as far as we can. And maybe work some magic down the road.”

Cathedral’s Ethan Kirchberg finished second in the third leg, shooting a 76, while Cedar Mountain’s Ethan Bock shot a 78 for third and Mavrick Winkelmann carded an 82 for fourth.

Winkelmann finished second overall in points after three days, 8 points behind Laffen with a score of 72. Kirchberg finished third overall in points (67), while Mason Kretsch of Springfield finished fourth (63).

Taking third as a team on the day was Cathedral (356), followed by Cedar Mountain (363), Wabasso (379), GFW (380), BLHS (446) and MVL (451).

Girls’ meet

Sleepy Eye Golf Club

Individual scores

1. Makenna Winkelmann (SPF) 86

2. Kayla Goblirsch (NUC) 91

3. Audree Ginsburg (BLHS) 92

4. Mackenzie Lothert (SPF) 93

T-5. Anna Plotz (SPF) 98

T-5. Erica Bock (CM) 98

T-7. Ashtyn Tauer (SEU) 100

T-7. Nadine Clobes (MVL) 100

T-7. Lacole Weisensel (SPF) 100

10. Shaylee Schiller (CM) 104

Boys’ meet

Mayflower Golf Course

Individual scores

1. Ben Laffen (SEU) 73

2. Ethan Kirchberg (NUC) 76

3. Ethan Bock (CM) 78

4. Mavrick Winkelmann (SPF) 82

5. Mason Kretsch (SPF) 84

6. Logan Haala (NUC) 85

T-7. Thor Weiss (SEU) 88

T-7. Andrew Neid (SEU) 88

T-7. Jacob Iverson (WAB) 88

10. Tabor Runck (SPF) 89