Polson, Whitefish among boys favorites at State A golf

Whitefish has grabbed headlines the last couple years after trading boys golf State A titles with always-strong Laurel.

Both teams had better watch for Polson Friday and Saturday, when the 2022 State A tournament plays out at Hamilton Golf Club.

Polson has won four tournaments this season, and four of them cme with Whitefish — second at last year’s state championship — in the field. That includes last week’s Western A Divisional, played in Libby.

“To have five boys in the 70s and not count one of them is a good day on that golf course,” Polson coach Cameron Milton said.

The Pirates’ Carson Hupka led the way with a 70, and Christian Lund was next at 74. It was a decisive team win — by 18 strokes — but now comes a two-day tournament on a course Whitefish won on earlier this season.

Laurel’s Cameron Hackmann is the defending State A medalist. His squad won the team title by nine strokes. Teammate Eli Weisenberger was medalist at the Eastern A Divisional.

“Laurel’s good,” Milton noted. “We saw Laurel early at our first event of the year. It’s Laurel, Whitefish and us and maybe Livingston, because they have the Aubrey Kelley kid.”

“It’s a clean slate this week,” Whitefish coach Tait Rocksund said. “I told the team, whatever Polson and Laurle does, that’s what they’re going to do. We need to just do what we’re going to do.”

“I know Jim O’Neill is going to bring a good team over from Laurel. It’s really going to come down to who shows up on the second day at State.”

It could be Billy Smith, the Whitefish golfer with three medalist finishes this season. Teammate Johnny Nix won the two-day Kalispell Invite.

“Billy is probably the most polished golfer in A. And AA,” said Polson’s Milton. “Carson is the best player on our team, with the lowest stroke average. But any of our guys, one through five, can post a score any day.

“Whitefish is very strong. We kind of have some more peaks and valleys than they do.”

The Pirates are set up to take home the girls team title as well. That’s something Laurel did in 2018-19 and last season, and the Locomotives will be a major hurdle this weekend.

Another will be Eastern A champion Billings Central.

“Billings Central is the challenge,” Polson coach Cameron Milton said this week. “If our girls shoot what they’re capable of, they can do it.”

Ashley Maki leads the way for the Pirates; she was sixth at state last year, when her team finished fourth. At last week’s divisional, Maki, Kylee Seifert and Clare Konen finished 2-3-4.

“We only have four girls, but those four are pretty solid,” Milton said.

Whitefish’s Matthew Peschell and Libby’s Reese Malyec are two more individuals to watch on the boys side. Frenchtown’s Katie Lewis has a shot at being girls medalist.