Girls Golf: Wingers tie for second at Northfield

After shooting a 315 Wednesday Red Wing put together a 332 at Willingers Golf Club to finish second at the Northfield Invitational.

Wingers head coach Mark Herzog said both were good scores considering the difficulty of playing Willingers. Red Wing finished one stroke back of Edina, which shot 331 to win the tournament, and tied Wayzata for second place. Four schools ranked in the top 10 of the state appeared at the tournament. Red Wing is ranked third, Edina fifth and Wayzata, the defending Class 3A champion, is ranked seventh. Eden Prairie, which is ranked 10th, also played in the tournament and finished fourth with a 343.

“It was a good day,” Herzog said. “Willingers is probably the toughest course we play outside of TPC. The kids have been really consistent the last two weeks.”

Red Wing tied Wayzata at the Alexandria Invitational April 25 and had beaten Edina at TPC, but Edina’s No. 1 golfer shot 76 to earn medalist honors Thursday.

“Their No. 1 played better than she had in the past,” Herzog said. “Their No. 1 was the difference today.”

The Wingers’ No. 1 wasn’t far behind. Katie Kesti shot 79 to lead Red Wing and finished sixth overall. Marisa Toivonen and Nicole Schammel added 82s and Stephanie Herzog finished with an 89.

Kesti is one of the players who have gotten more consistent as of late, Herzog said. After struggling with her driver early in the season she’s found a groove and added some power to her drives, Herzog said.

Getting an 82 from Schammel served as a boon as well. Schammel’s scoring average has been 81.7 in her last four rounds.

“When she plays well we go from a good team to a really good team,” Herzog said.

Toivonen would have had a better score if she hadn’t taken a two-stroke penalty for a lost ball in her round. She found her original ball shortly after taking a drop, Herzog said.

The Wingers host an invitational Tuesday in Red Wing.

Tags: girls golf, red wing, sports, prep