Yoemans and Red Wing Girls Ready to Contend For Class AA Title

High School

By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
As a seventh grader Sophia Yoemans recognized basketball as her No. 1 sport despite playing in the Minnesota State High School Golf Tournament for Red Wing High School a few short months following her winter basketball season.
 
In a matter of four years, however, Yoemans has become one of the state’s most dominant golfers, entering the 2017-18 season as the top-ranked girls’ high school player after earning co-medalist honors at the state tournament last season as a sophomore.
 
“Basketball was my main sport throughout elementary school and definitely my main focus from third grade until seventh grade,” Yoemans said. “I played traveling basketball and my dad was the coach, so I really switched over to golf in eighth grade and kind of took a step back from basketball.
 
“My mom signed me up for a golf league at [Mississippi National Golf Club] when I was about six for something to do in the summer. I was fortunate enough to play with the Herzog family, who I became good friends with. Stephanie was older but was already playing in Junior PGA tournaments and Leah was starting as well, so [Red Wing girls varsity coach Mark Herzog] said that I should get out there too.”
 
Forming a close friendship with a well-known golf family across the state in the Herzog’s, Yoemans credits her early interest and success to coach Herzog, as well as her swing coach, Minnesota PGA professional Brent Snyder.
 
“I started playing in some tournaments on par-3 courses and then met Brent and now we’re here,” she laughed. “He’s been my swing coach for about six years.
 
“The biggest difference in my game has been consistency. When I was in seventh or eighth grade I was hitting quality shots, but it was how often and how close I was hitting them. My age and my swing progression have really helped my consistency. Getting older, my short game has gotten better just putting more time in.”   
 
Yoemans finished tied for 34^th at the state tourney in her first season as an eighth-grader in 2014, before playing a vital role in Red Wing’s state team championship in 2015, notching a top-15 finish to help end a three-year run by Detroit Lakes on top of Class AA.
 
“Winning state and getting to jump in the pond (following the 2015 team title) was probably my favorite memory so far,” Yoemans said. “We had a really fun team and had a good team dynamic, so to cap it off my eighth grade year was a fun year all around.”
 
Stepping up to Class AAA in 2016, Yoemans improved yet again as she tied for 11^th before reaching the pinnacle of high school golf at the 2017 state tournament by earning co-medalist honors after shooting 71 during the final round to finish tied for first with Edina’s Joanna Kim.
 
Entering the season as the state’s top player leaves the grounded junior unfazed as Yoemans has shifted her focus to building chemistry within the varsity squad ahead of the 2018 weather-shortened season.
 
“Leah [Herzog], Ava [Bremseth] and Sydney [Flack] and me are back from our team from last year, so we’re trying to get our younger players—our five and six—going and get our reps in and we all working together to get everyone better,” she said. “I think we’ll be able to get into the swing of things right away because we’re playing just about four meets a week. I had a great run and sections and state last year, but earlier in the season I did not play as well as I could’ve. I want to be more consistent and get better than I was last year.
 
“It’s been tough—you’re off all winter, but I had some lessons in the dome. Our team started at the end of March and we were able to hit into nets at the middle school, but whenever the weather was sort of nice we were able to get outside onto the fields and hit some wedges at least. Working on your short game has been the biggest challenge so far.”
 
Excelling not only at the state level, Yoemans qualified for her first two national events within weeks of each other by winning the 2017 Minnesota Section Junior PGA Girls’ Championship after qualifying for the U.S. Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship last June.
 
She closed out her 2017 season by earning medalist honors at the Minnesota State Junior Girls’ Championship, edging out her friend and teammate, Leah Herzog by two shots, before winning the Resorters Invitational in Alexandria, Minn., last August.
 
“I really enjoy the challenge that golf brings,” Yoemans said. “The thing is, you could shoot a couple under par and still know 10 things that you could’ve done better. There are always things to get better at and keep improving.”
 
 
CLASS A
BOLD High School earned a four-stroke victory over the defending champions from Fillmore Central at the 2017 tournament and both schools should be strong contenders to play for the top spot in Class A with both teams losing two players from the previous season.
 
The Warriors lose the leadership of Madison VanderHagen, who finished tied for 13^th last season, but earned valuable state tournament experience from sophomores Ashley Trongard, Makayla Snow, Lanie Mages and Olivia Hanson. Trongard looks to improve on a sixth-place finish from a year ago, finishing 10 shots back of individual medalist Callie Wersal.
 
CLASS AA
Red Wing returns to Class AA for the 2018 season and will once again have to contend with its rivals from Lake City for a state berth. Unfortunately for Lake City, the Tigers graduated three of their top four performers from the 2017 season, in which a young squad from Detroit Lakes was able to outduel Lake City to return to prominence, winning its fourth team title in five seasons.
 
The Lakers return their top two finishers from their championship team a year ago; senior Maddie Herzog and sophomore Shelby Busker. The two finished fifth and seventh, respectively.
 
With the exception of Lake City and Visitation (who lost 2017 Class AA co-medalist and two-time Minnesota Golf Association Junior Girls’ Player of the Year Anni Heck), the remaining teams at the state tournament in 2017 (Minnewaska, Breck, International Falls, Jordan and Osakis) lost a combined three starters from their state tournament rosters.
 
CLASS AAA
A perennial powerhouse in Class AAA, the girls from Edina, who’ve captured four team titles over the past five season, never seem to rebuild—only reload. While cruising to a staggering 36-shot victory over Red Wing last season, the Hornets will be without the services of Grace Kellar, who posted a third-place finish in 2017, Isabelle Ouyang and Katie Dickey. Edina will get a big boost from last year's co-medalist, Joanna Kim, but will need fellow senior Emily Kratz, as well as juniors Kendall Olsen and Dasha Parker, to step up during the 2018 season to fend off strong Lakeville North, Chanhassen and Rosemount squads for the top spot in Class AAA.