It's VanArragon (66) vs. McCauley (68) in AAA Girls Once Again

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COON RAPIDS -- The last time anyone not named VanArragon or McCauley won the Minnesota state Class AAA girls individual championship in golf was 2017, and it looks as though that's not going to change this year.

Kathryn VanArragon, the senior from Blaine who won her second state title last year, shot a 6-under-par 66 on Tuesday at Bunker Hills Golf Course, and she leads by two strokes over the 2021 champ, Simley junior Reese McCauley, going into VanWednesday's final round. No one else is within seven of VanArragon.

If this sounds familiar, it's because last year VanArragon opened the tournament with a 65 and went on to win by two over McCauley's sister Bella (the 2019 Class AAA girls winner), wth a record-tying 36-hole total of 135. Reese finished third with a 139.  No one else finiished within 10 shots of VanArragon. 

To appreciate just how well VanArragon and the McCauleys have played, consider the history of the girls golf tournament. The large-school class (AA) was played at Bunker Hills for the first time in 1990, and Burnsville's Nikki Ross won the individual crown with a 36-hole tab of 161. Alissa Herron, a future U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion, won in 1991, when she was a senior at Wayzata, with a 162. Two years later, the winning score was 167. In 1997, Edina senior Hillary Homeyer shot the lowest winning score for the large-school division at Bunker Hills, up to that point, with a 75-77--152. She was named an All-American each of the next four years while playing for Stanford, and in 2003, after she got married and her name was Hillary Lunke, she won the U.S. Women's Open.

The first time anyone broke par for the two days was 2012, when Celia Kuenster of Cretin-Derham Hall posted a 141 total and won her second AAA title by two over New Prague's Kenzie Neisen. Neisen would then be the first girl to crack 140 two years later, in 2014, when she was a senior and shattered the record Kuenster had set with a 135, which was good for a. one-stroke victory over Wayzata's Sarah Burnham, a future LPGA Tour player.

That record of 135 was tied by McCauley, when she won in 2019, and then by VanArragon, when she won last year. And the record would appear to be in some jeopardy this year, based on Tuesday's scores. 

The 130s have become familiar territory for VanArragon and McCauley. VanArragon won the Section 5AAA tournamen by 15 shots with a 66-68--134 at The Links at Northfork, and McCauley won the 3AAA title by 17 strokes with a 138 at Bunker Hills. (Bella McCauley, who graduated last year, is at the University of Minnesota, where she qualified for the NCAA Championships and ended the college season ranked No. 95 out the more than 2000 NCAA Division I players listed by Golfweek.)

VanArragon was about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, as far as she can remember, when she won her first state high school as a seventh-grader, and she averaged around 220 yards with her driver back then. She's now 5-8 and averages something more like 245 or 250 yards with her driver, and the par 5s at Bunker Hills (her home course) have gotten easier. On Tuesday, she jump-started her round by making an eagle at the 405-yard fourth hole (No. 4 East), where her 6-iron wound up next to the green and she chipped in from there.

She birdied the next two holes, with short irons to the greens, and at the 320-yard eighth hole she hit a lob wedge from 73 yards to 8 feet and made that putt for her third birdie. For the five holes from No. 4 to No. 8, she was 5 under. At the 430-yard, par-5 11th she cut the dogleg by hitting her tee shot over the trees and had a 9-iron to the green. She two-putted from 30 feet for her fourth birdie of the day, and she finished the round bogey free.

Reese McCauley is probably the longest hitter in the girls AAA field, and she, too, took advantage of Bunker Hills' par 5s. An errant drive into the trees prevented her from making a birdie at the fourth hole, but she birdied the 475-yard, par-5 sixth, as well as the par-4 second and the eighth, and like VanArragon, she had an eagle on her scorecard. Hers came at the 11th (No. 2 West), where she hit an 8-iron to 10 feet and converted the putt. Unlike VanArragon, she wasn't bogey free, but she capped off her round with a flip wedge to 4 feet at the 18th (294 yards, par 4).

Given the number of times they've competed against each other for tournament titles,, those in thre media, who have been known to overdramatize sporting events, might look at the rivalry and be tempted to call this year's state tournament a grudge match for VanArragon and McCauley. But it certainly didn't look that way. 

"Playing today with. Kathryn and Hannah (Borass of Alexandria) and Nicole (Reineke of Chaska), it didn't really seem like a tournament round,k" McCauley said afterward. "It was just fun. I had a great time."

Although. Boraas made it to the state tournament, Alexandria, which won the team championship last year did not. Maple Grove, which finished second in 2022, looks like the heir apparent. The Crimson combined for a 315 on Tuesday, and they lead Wayzata by six. Minnetonka is 16 back at 331, and Detroit Lakes, at 333, is probably the only other team with even a remote shot at catching Maple Grove.


Minnesota State High School Golf Championships

At Bunker Hills Golf Course

Class AAA Girls 

Par 72, 5,517 yards

Individuals

1. Kathryn VanArragon, sr., Blaine                 66

2. Reese McCauley, jr., Simley                      68

3. Jovie Ordal, jr., Lakeville South                 73

T4. Amelia Morton, jr., Maple Grove             74

T4. Ava Hanneman, soph., Orono                74

T4. Kate Burke, sr., Edina                             74

T4. Nicole Reineke, sr., Chaska                    74

8. Saachi Deshmukh, jr., Wayzata                 75

T9. Emerson Garlie, jr., Northfield                 76

T9. Hanna Knoop, jr., Detroit Lakes              76

T9. Hannah Boraas, sr., Alexandria              76

T9. Izzy Olson, sr., Brainerd                          76

Teams 

1. Maple Grove                               315

2. Wayzata                                      320

3. Minnetonka.                                331

4. Detroit Lakes                              333

5. Elk River                                    341

6. Lakeville South.                         347

7. Mahtomedi.                               354

8. East Ridge                                356