Pack boys chasing Sentinel; Pirate girls aim for A repeat
Glacier's Chloe Tanner watches her approach on the second fairway during the Kalispell Invite at Buffalo Hill Golf Club on Thursday, Sept. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Glacier's Trevor Cunningham watches his tee shot on the fourth hole during the Kalispell Invite at Buffalo Hill Golf Club on Thursday, Sept. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Polson's Ashley Maki tees off on the 9th hole during the Western A Divisional tournament at Whitefish Lake Golf Club on Thursday, Sept. 21. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Libby's Reece Malyevac watches his approach on the 11th fairway during the Western A Divisional tournament at Whitefish Lake Golf Club on Thursday, Sept. 21. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The Glacier Wolfpack’s run through the AA boys golf campaign took a little detour last week at Bill Roberts Golf Course, where Missoula Sentinel decided to stop the streak.
The Spartans went 12-under as a team the first day at the Western AA Divisional in Helena and won by 22 strokes over a Glacier squad that shot an enviable 597 over two days. The Pack hadn’t lost an event all season.
“That’s always golf, you know?” asked Glacier coach Chris Michno, whose teams are competing at the State AA tournament starting Thursday in Billings. “Anything can happen.”
He’s hopeful Lake Hills Golf Course plays a bit longer than Bill Roberts, but also that his golfers — Sam Engellant, Trevor Cunningham, Torren and Tanyon Murray, and Wes Weber — have saved their best for last.
Sentinel, with Kade McDonough enjoying a banner senior season, will be tough to beat either way. That’s not to mention Eastern AA Divisional champion Billings Skyview.
“No one’s going to give it to us, that’s for sure,” Michno, whose girls were third at divisionals, said. “If (a loss) was going to happen, I’m glad it happened as it did. It gave us a little more inspiration. I know the boys and girls have been practicing a little bit harder.”
Chloe Tanner leads a solid Glacier girls team that led the Western AA after 18, before Helena Capital surged to the title. Kendall Tkachyk, Braelyn Ryan, Abbi Townsend and Maggie Mitton helped the Pack qualify as a team.
Now comes the final test.
“If they leave 100 percent of themselves out on the course, I don’t care about the outcome,” Michno said.
Flathead has three boys and three girls competing: Dylan Morris, Tyler Willias and Korbin Eaton for the boys and Payzlee Boyce, Kyrie Gislason and Becca Vosen for the Bravettes.
Polson girls favored
Ashley Maki leads the Fearsome Foursome that are the defending state champion Pirates.
They won by 20 strokes over Hamilton at last year’s State A, and beat the Broncs by 20 strokes at last week’s divisional.
Billings Central won the Eastern A Divisional with 376 strokes; Polson won the Western A with a 355.
Katie Lewis of Frenchtown is a solid pick to repeat as medalist, though golfers like Maki and Bigfork’s Keni Wade have closed the gap some.
Kylee Seifert, Clare Konen and Kila Cannon round out a Polson squad that has been a consistent winner.
Wade and her brother Colin are both 2023 State B medalists, before the Vikings moved up a classification.
Polson’s boys have medalist threats in Carson Hupka and Christian Lund, and Espn Fisher — he picked up golf as a sophomore, Lund said — shot a 76 last week to give the Pirates three of the top six finishers at the Western A.
Libby’s Reece Malyevac has been just short of medalist honors in several tournaments this season as well.
