Smith Siblings Lead Way as Detroit Lakes Moves to the Front in AA

JORDAN -- The Minnesota State High School League began sponsoring a boys golf tournament in 1928. Forty-nine years later, in 1977, it discovered gender equity and started a girls tournament. 

In all that time, only two families have supplied multiple individual champions. One pair of brothers, the Oftelies of Waconia, won state tournaments, Steve claiming his Class A crown (under the old two-class system) in 1978, and his younger brother Stu winning the next year and again in 1980.

It wasn't until last year that a sister-brother combination matched the Oftilies' feat of two siblings both claiming state championships. Betsy Kelly had won the Class AAA medal when she was a junior at Forest Lake in 2009, and her brother won the AAA boys medal in 2011 as a Forest Lake sophomore.

Now there is the possibility of siblings winning individual championships in the same year, after Detroit Lakes junior Karter Smith shot a 5-under-par 67 on Tuesday at the Ridges @ Sand Creek in the first round of the AA boys competition, and his sister, eighth-grader Kate Smith, put together a 2-under 70 in the opening round of the AA girls part of the tournament.

First-round leads in high school tournaments -- or most tournaments, for that matter -- but both of the Smith kids have fairly sizable head-starts going into Wednesday's final rounds at the Ridges.

Karter is four ahead of the three players who are tied for second among the boys. One of the three at 71 is his teammate Tyler Baukol, and the others are Logan Bashaw of Byron and Jordan Peters of Delano.

The defending champion, Marshall senior Max Deutz, got off to a great start with an eagle on his first hole and was 5 under after 10, but he played his last eight holes in 5 over and ended up with a 72. He's tied for fifth place, along with Virginia's Olaf Walkky, Staples-Motley's Nick Forsberg, and Litchfield's Josh Polingo.

Thanks in large part to Smith and Baukol, Detroit Lakes set a state tournament record for the lowest one-day team score in Class AA with a 291, and the Lakers lead Staples-Motley by three. Byron is 10 back in third place, at  301, and Hermantown is fourth at 302.

Orono had the one-day record of 292. The Spartans shot that in the first round two years ago, and it turned out to be their tournament total, because the second round was rained out.

The record for lowest winning 36-hole AA score is 606, by the Detroit Lakes team that won at last year's tournament.

"We shot 294, and we're three behind," Staples-Motley coach Glen Hasselberg marveled. "Actually, I'm not surprised. There were five or six teams coming into this tournament that all had a chance to win. It's the strongest field I've ever seen. I thought this was going to be a heck of a tournament, and that's exactly what we've got."

As for the girls, it's a similar story. Kate Smith is five ahead of her closest pursuer, Minnewaska senior Brianna Janu. Right behind Janu is the only player in the field younger than Smith -- Visitation eighth-grader Anni Heck -- at 76. One of Smith's teammates, DL sophomore Trisa Hutchinson, is tied with Kourtney Williams of Buffalo for fourth place at 77.

Detroit Lakes has four players among the top 12 in the individual standings. Sophomore Matty Tschider is joint eighth at 80, along with Kaylee Benson of Jackson County Central, and one further back at 81, tied for 10th is Lakers senior Courtney Hedstrom. Another DL sophomore, Natalie Roth, is tied for 17th after opening with an 83, and her score doesn't even count toward the team  total, which is 308.

That's not a record, but it's good enough to give DL a 27-shot lead over second-place Minnewaska. (Minnewaska, incidentally, is the team that has the AA and all-time girls records for lowest one-day tournament score -- 304 -- and two-day aggregate -- 610. Both records were set in 2009

                                 Minnesota State High School Golf Tournament

                                 Class AA

                                 At The Ridges @ Sand Creek

                                  Par 72

                                  Jordan

                                  Girls 

                                  First-round results 

                                              Boys

                                              First-round results