Viking girls’ golf swings into season with eye on improvement

By Cara L. Dempski

COLFAX — The Viking girls’ golf team has the unique position of being talented, but unable to earn conference-level honors.

Colfax plays matches as part of the Middle Border Conference, and stacked up relatively well against schools like Amery, St. Croix Central and Baldwin-Woodville in 2016. The Lady Vikings finished in the middle of the pack at most meets, and had a few top three finishes on the season.

This season, the Vikings are back with a new coach – Ryan Krall – and some new faces to replace the seniors who departed the team after last season. Some of former coach Kim Myers’ most talented are back, along with a supporting cast of golfers and some fast-learning rookies.

Hannah Yingst, Kaely Rieck and Megan Schleusner left Colfax’s squad of golfers after a solid season of scores between 50 and 65 strokes over nine holes. The lone senior for 2017 is Amanda Christianson, who returns to the team after a season holding the middle ground for the Vikings’ as a junior.

Abby Klueckmann is one of two players to represent the junior class for this year’s team. She did not see much varsity play in 2016, but brings some playing experience to the team.

Sophomores Haley Seston, Morgan Schleusner and Abby DeMoe return for 2017 after strong showings as freshman. Krall sees DeMoe as the team leader this year after her trip to the state match at University Ridge as a freshman.

Schleusner and DeMoe qualified for sectional play in their first season as high school competitors.

“They’re the two returners that positively impact us the most coming into the season because of the experience they have competing at the very highest levels of high school as young freshmen,” Krall said.

The newly-minted head coach previously noted Schleusner is a naturally gifted athlete, and should form an integral part of his team.

Junior McKenna Yingst, sophomore Abbi Farley, and freshman Hannah Lemler have not played much until this year according to Krall, but have been open to coaching and seem to truly enjoy the game. The Viking coach said the trio works hard and has shown consistent improvement in the early days of the season.

Krall indicated the team’s greatest strength in 2017 is the camaraderie.

“It has been fun to watch (the camaraderie) early this season,” Krall explained. “They all sincerely hope that their teammates do well, and help one another through any issues they may be having.”

The work ethic, positive attitudes, and desire to get better together has made Krall’s job a lot easier.

On the downside, there is a general lack of experience. With the exception of Schleusner and DeMoe, the rest of the team does not have a significant amount of varsity experience in situations where they are required to post good scores in order to help the team.

Krall’s main goal for the Vikings is to improve their scoring average. More generally, he would like to see each player improve in all facets. Outside of statistical goals, making good decisions around the course to help decrease scoring averages will be crucial for the Vikings’ success.

“If we can do that, we will have met our goals this season,” Krall said.

Since Colfax does not compete as part of a conference, Krall’s focus is on continuous improvement on the road to the regional match. He noted Colfax will need to beat teams like Hayward and Spooner, both of whom have a long-standing tradition of excellent teams, in regional competition to move forward together.

He hopes to improve enough to be included in the conversation with those schools in 2017.

Krall is very excited to be working with the Viking girls’ golf team for the first time.

“They are awesome kids that are a lot of fun to be around, and are trying to soak in as much coaching as possible,” he said. “If they continue this same mindset, we have potential to do good things this year.”

The Colfax girls’ golf team has already participated in an 18-hole scramble at Barron August 11 where they placed 12th out of 14 teams. They then headed to Pine Crest golf course in Dallas Monday, August 14, where they finished third out of five teams.

After appearances at Bristol Ridge golf course near Baldwin August 15, and a trip to Big Fish in Hayward August 17, the Vikings headed to Amery August 22. The team is scheduled to be at Osceola August 24 before heading to Baldwin-Woodville August 29.

Roster

Senior: Amanda Christianson.

Juniors: Abby Klueckmann and McKenna Yingst.

Sophomores: Abby DeMoe, Morgan Schleusner, Haley Seston and Abbi Farley.

Freshman: Hannah Lemler.