Top four seeds ready to resume in Junior 13-15

By Eric Morken emorken@echopress.com

The Junior 13-15 Division participants had a busy start to the Resorters week with qualifying on Sunday and match play on Monday and Wednesday. That set up a day off on Thursday, but the final four participants are ready to hit the course again on Friday afternoon.

Cottonwood’s Carson Boe, Victoria’s Andrew Ballou, and Alexandria’s Carver Larson and Bennett Olsen will tee off at 2:10 p.m. from the first box to decide who will compete for a championship on Saturday.

Here is a look back at how each of these four got here.

Boe lives up to top seed

Carson Boe has felt at home at the Alexandria Golf Club in recent years.

Boe made a run all the way to the Junior 13-15 Division championship match a year ago before falling to Alexandria’s Hannah Boraas. This year, he has carried that momentum into another solid tournament.

Boe qualified as the top seed in the divi- sion with an even-par 72. He had no problems securing a 5-4 win in his opening match against 16th-seeded Sam Horstman. He then put away last year’s Junior 10-12 Division champ, Lunden Esterline, on Wednesday in a 3-2 match to secure his spot in the semifinals.

Ballou looking to pull the upset Andrew Ballou will get the next shot at taking down the top seed, and he’s had as easy a go through his first two rounds as anyone in this field.

Ballou won 5-4 against fifth-seeded Charlie Moen on Wednesday. That was after taking an 8-6 match in his opener against 13th-seeded Adam Crosby.

The back nine was good to Ballou on Wednesday as he shot an even-par 36 to build a 4-up lead against Moen. That included a birdie win on the par-5 14th.

Larson, Olsen finding ways to win

Both Carver Larson and Bennett Olsen have been locked up in at least one close match through the first couple rounds, but they have plenty of experience playing in big meets.

Larson and Olsen are Alexandria teammates for the Cardinals who were freshman on a team that finished fifth in the Class AAA state tournament this past spring.

Larson used his experience in big meets to hold off a huge challenge from McKenzee Sullivan on Wednesday. She shot an even-par 36 on the back nine and took Larson to 17 holes before he won a 2-1 final. Larson needed to be good, and he was — birdying holes 1, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16 and 17 against Sullivan.

Olsen cruised in a 7-6 final in his opener before winning a closer 3-2 match against Osakis’ Chase Triebenbach on Wednesday. Olsen led by three early in that match and never relinquished the lead despite Triebenbach staying within striking distance much of the day. Now the two teammates in Olsen and Larson will face each other with a trip to a Resorters championship match on the line.

By Eric Morken

Alexandria Echo Press

The eight players left standing in the championship flight of the Women’s Executive Division earned a day off on Thursday, but they are back at it on Friday afternoon looking to get one step closer to a title. There is a lot of Resorters experience left in this field. The question remains if anyone can take down the division’s four-time champion in Betsy Aldrich. She knows this course probably as well as anyone in any division, and Aldrich has been good again this year after qualifying with a 76 as the division’s top seed. She went out and took a 6-5 match against 16th-seeded Rose Lambros on Wednesday.

Ninth-seeded Liz Dowd gets the next shot at taking down the defending champion. Dowd won a tight 3-1 match against Tiffany Johnson on Wednesday by winning holes 12, 13, 16 and 17 in a match that was tied after 10 holes.

Thirteenth-seeded Joan Frie and

12th-seeded Colleen Boerboom both pulled off opening-round upsets, at least according to the seed lines, on Wednesday. Frie won a 4-3 match against fourth-seeded Andrea Allyn and Boerboom took down fifth-seeded Karna Peters in a 1-up final where wins at 13, 14, 15 and 17 erased what had been a 2-hole deficit after 12.

Second-seeded Jodi Sullivan, like Alridch a former multiple Women’s Division champion and the 2018 Executive winner, was tested in the first round. She survived 15th-seeded Paula Lambkin in 19 holes — a testament to the fact that anything can happen in a match-play event.

Tenth-seeded Amanda O’Donnell will try to take down Sullivan on Friday. She beat her good friend, Jessica Kammann, in a 4-3 match on Wednesday.

Third-seeded Molly Baker and sixth-seeded Jen Cavers make up the rest of this eight-player field. Baker was steady on Wednesday as she shot 2-over par through 13 holes in putting away Cathy Sholts in a 6-5 final. Cavers used a birdie win at 9 to culminate what was a solid end to the front nine that led her to a 3-2 win over Stacy Faith.