Heck Wins Second Class AA Title

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  JORDAN, Minn. – It’s the question the Detroit Lakes girls golf team has been asked dozens of times all season long—can the Lakers win without five-time individual championship Kate Smith?

Playing without Smith for the first time this week at the 2017 Minnesota State Girls High School Class AA Championship, the Detroit Lakes girls golf team posted a team score of 649 Tuesday at Ridges at Sand Creek to beat Lake City by four shots to claim its fifth team title over the past six years and, more importantly, put an end to the debate once and for all.

A different year with a different team and even a different coach, but it’s a familiar result for Detroit Lakes, who time and time again seem to step up at the most opportune time to finish on top.

Kris and Margery Smith (Kate’s parents) took over for Cali Harrier this spring after Harrier led the Lakers to four state team titles in the last five years.

“It was kind of a Ben Crenshaw moment at the Ryder Cup when he said, ‘I’ve got a good feeling about this one,’” Kris Smith said after his first state title as coach of the Lakers Wednesday. “Our girls knew they had to do something special to win because on paper, Lake City is better than us.

“Winning five out of the last six championships is incredible, but this team wants its own identity,” he said. “We had four girls break 80, which hasn’t happened all year; 312 was our lowest score all year and to think that we won by four was one of those magical things.”

The Lakers leaned on junior Maddie Herzog this week as they’ve done most of the season and Herzog delivered with a steady performance by shooting 78 to open the tournament Tuesday before carding a 77 during the final round to finish in fifth place at 155.

Contributing to the team success Wednesday was freshman Shelby Busker who finished tied for seventh at 161 and senior Abby Schramel who finished tied for 15th. Another freshman, Anna Cihak, finished at 167 to give the Lakers four top-20 finishers.

“Experience is huge—we’ve been here and done it. I gave them one of those pep talks last night and said if you can play [No. 1] well and get them on their heels and finish well on 18, and sure enough, did we finish well on 18. It was a really good feeling to see them play great golf today.

“Anna Cihak being a freshman, hasn’t broken 80 all year and shoots 79 and then to have our senior (Abby Schramel) who struggled and was really an 80-82 shooter, and we got her in the house at 79—that was huge. The air gets pretty thin when you’re the last person coming and Maddie [Herzog] held it together to shoot 77 so I’m really proud of her.”

While Detroit Lakes continues its dominance in Class AA, Anni Heck, once again, quietly made her case as one of the state’s best by claiming her second consecutive individual title by shooting a final-round 69 Wednesday, finishing three shots better than Ashlyn Guggisberg at even par 144.

The Visitation senior, who shared medalist honors with Smith last season, chipped to 10 feet on the opening hole and converted birdie to start quickly, thanks in part to a certain spectator.

“My coach Roger Fahrenkrug’s license plate says, ‘birdie one and birdie them all,’ and he was watching today so that really got me going.”

Heck put her tee shot at the par-3 fifth 10 feet from the flag and rolled her birdie look and would turn at 2-under, even with first-round leader Guggisberg, who fired a 73 during the opening round.

The two-time Minnesota Golf Association Junior Girls’ Player of the Year continued her steady play to the final nine holes, carding six consecutive pars, including three straight par saves at Nos. 12, 13 and 14—some of the toughest on the course.

Heck left herself with a fast, downhill putt from the fringe at the par-3 17th and drilled her birdie chance from 18 feet to take complete control of the tournament at even par. She capped off her high school career with a short par putt, winning her second straight individual title.

“I was planning on shooting 68 today but really trying to focus on each shot and really just blocking everything else out of my mind," Heck said Wednesday. “My putting yesterday is what was killing me and I came out this morning and worked pretty hard on it and I was proud that I came in with 15 putts on the front nine.

“On the back nine I missed some approach shots but I only had 12 putts because I was able to get up-and-down. My lines were good all day and had really good speed with four or five 50-footers.”

Heck will play collegiate golf at Denver University season after playing varsity golf at Visitation since seventh grade.

“It feels really good and I’m proud that I was able to come back from two strokes behind. It’s a great feeling—I’ve been working towards this for the past six years.”



2017 MN STATE GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL CLASS AA CHAMPIONSHIP
RIDGES AT SAND CREEK
JORDAN, MINN.
5,486 YARDS, PAR 72


FINAL TEAM RESULTS
1. Detroit Lakes, 337-312—649
2. Lake City, 332-321—653
3. Visitation, 345-328—673
4. Minnewaska, 347-337—684
5. Breck, 351-341—692
6. International Falls, 355-372—727
7. Jordan, 372-360—732
8. Osakis, 414-389—803


FINAL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Anni Heck, Visitation, 75-69—144
2. Ashlyn Guggisberg, Minnewaska, 73-74—147
T3. Alex Stone, Pequot Lakes, 77-74—151
T3. Alayna Eldred, Osakis, 77-74—151
5. Maddie Herzog, Detroit Lakes, 78-77—155
6. Lexi Geolat, Lake City, 76-81—157
T7. Ally Tiedemann, Crookston, 82-79—161
T7. Shelby Busker, Detroit Lakes, 84-77—161
9. Olivia Matzke, Lake City, 83-79—162
T10. Morgan Kranz, Sauk Centre, 80-83—163
T10. Ava Wallerich, Lake City, 83-80—163


For complete tournament results go to: www.mshsl.org/mshsl/golfscores.asp?gender=Girls&class=AA