{"id":872471,"date":"2026-10-06T06:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/872471\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T06:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:20:15","slug":"red-rivers-fabian-sits-in-second-riders-hold-lead-on-day-1-grand-forks-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/872471\/","title":{"rendered":"Red River’s Fabian sits in second, Riders hold lead on Day 1 – Grand Forks Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

BISMARCK \u2014 Even a reocurrence of a lower-back injury couldn\u2019t faze Izzy Hale.<\/p>\n

The Mandan junior golfer, who has missed time this fall with a pulled muscle, felt it pop out of place again on her third tee shot on the opening day of the North Dakota Class A state girls golf tournament at Riverwood Golf Course on Monday.<\/p>\n

Still, by the time the day ended, Hale had a two-stroke lead halfway through the two-day chase for medalist honors. After carding a 40 on the front nine, she turned in a 37 on the way in for a 5-over 77, two shots ahead of Grand Forks Red River junior Alexis Fabian.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe tweaked it on hole 3 on her tee shot,\u201d Mandan coach Dean Johs said. \u201cShe was in some pain for a while, popped a bunch of Tylenol. She said it took about four holes before it kicked in.<\/p>\n

\u201cMade sense on her scorecard \u2014 she went bogey, bogey, bogey. After that, she finished 1 over for the whole round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hale had been healthy the past two weeks, taking medalist honors and helping the Braves to a team title in the West Region tournament on Oct. 29 at Riverwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere the hip connects to the back, that muscle\u2019s been popped out of place so many times this year,\u201d Johs said. \u201cBeen in the last two weeks. Every now and then, it just squeezes out and it\u2019s hard for her to walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent her home after her round, she\u2019s icing and getting treatments tonight and tomorrow before the round.\u201d<\/p>\n

After opening with two pars before tweaking her back, she had three straight bogeys and four in six hole before opening the back nine with a birdie on 10, She had six pars over her final eight holes.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just solid,\u201d Johs said. \u201cShe just hits it down the fairway, hits it onto the green and two-putts. I don\u2019t think she had a phenomenal shot all day, except for the one she chipped in.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Hale\u2019s game \u2014 just one solid shot after another.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just repetitive. That kind of takes the heart out of your opponents after a while because it\u2019s like she doesn\u2019t seem to make any mistakes,\u201d Johs said. \u201cThat\u2019s her strength. Her opponents are all hitting it way past her but she just puts it in play, puts it in play, puts it on the green and she putts unreal. I would never want to putt against her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did really well. I really appreciate how she fought out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Girl's<\/p>\n

West Fargo Horace’s Sutton Bennett putts during the first day of the North Dakota Class A state girls golf tournament on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, at Riverwood Golf Course in Bismarck.<\/p>\n

Tanner Ecker \/ Bismarck Tribune<\/p>\n

Grand Forks Red River posted a team score of 333, one stroke ahead of West Fargo Sheyenne. The top four teams at the midway mark are from the East Region, with Fargo Shanley and West Fargo Horace tied for third (338).<\/p>\n

The Roughriders, led by Fabian, had four players in the top 16 and ties, Ellie Svoboda shot an 84 and sits in 13th place, with Eva Gallegos and Ellie Greenberg both tied for 16th with rounds of 85.<\/p>\n

The Mustangs, going into the final round one shot back of Red River as they seek to repeat as champions, were led in the opening round by Ava Keene, who is among three golfers tied for third with an 80, three shots back of Hale.<\/p>\n

Morgan Foss (84), Kelsey Schulz (85) and Aubrey Sellheim (85) are all in the top 20.<\/p>\n

\"Girl's<\/p>\n

Fargo Shanley’s Anika Astrup chips her ball onto a green during the first day of the North Dakota Class A state girls golf tournament on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, at Riverwood Golf Course in Bismarck.<\/p>\n

Tanner Ecker \/ Bismarck Tribune<\/p>\n

Anika Astrup and Taylor Sandin each shot an 82, both part of a five-way tie for seventh, for Shanley. Sutton Bennett led Horace with an opening-round 82, also tied for seventh.<\/p>\n

The top West Region team after one day was Mandan with a 345.<\/p>\n

Like Hale, Aliya Copas had a strong back nine for the Braves. After posting a 48 on the front nine, the junior carded a 41 coming in to finish with an 89.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had one bad hole on the front, but beyond that her front would be real good too,\u201d Johs said. \u201cReally glad she dug out of that hole and got going. If she could shoot that 41 all the time it would be phenomenal for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Braves kept their focus on golf through the injuries as well as the emotions from a fatal traffic crash over the weekend that killed a Mandan teenager and injured others.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our girls had to fight through a lot of stuff,\u201d Johs said. \u201cIzzy wasn\u2019t real close to the people that were in that tragedy, but the rest were first cousins and best friends and you name it. They had to fight through a lot. I\u2019m just glad to be a part of it with them today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of the Mandan golfers came back stronger on the back nine, pushing them up the leaderboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most of the day we were 12th, so to be where we are right now, in sixth \u2014 we\u2019ve happy with where we\u2019re at,\u201d Johs said. \u201cWe\u2019re pumped for tomorrow. We just have to come and have fun and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team totals: Grand Forks Red River 333, West Fargo Sheyenne 334, Fargo Shanley 338, Horace 338, Bismarck Legacy 345, Mandan 353, Fargo Davies 355, Bismarck Century 357, Watford City 358, Minot 363, West Fargo 366, Dickinson 367.<\/p>\n

Top 25 and ties: 1. Isabella Hale, Mandan, 77; 2. Alexis Fabian, Grand Forks Red River, 79; T3. Rawni Roemmich, Bismarck Legacy, 80; Ava Keene, West Fargo Sheyenne, 80; Zaelynn Aune, Minot, 80; 6. Sidney Elliott, Fargo Davies, 81; T7. Sutton Bennett, Horace, 82; Harlee Olson, Watford City, 82; Anika Astrup, Fargo Shanley, 82; 10. Ella Langenwalter, Wahpeton, 83; T11. Morgan Foss, West Fargo Sheyenne, 84; Rozzi Horner, Bismarck St. Mary’s, 84; Ellie Svoboda, Grand Forks Red River, 84; T14. Arrington Sheeley, West Fargo, 85; Katelyn Bast, Minot North, 85; Gabby Palczewski, Bismarck Century, 85; Kathryn Wald, Fargo North, 85; Eva Gallegos, Grand Forks Red River, 85; Camille Duchsherer, Horace, 85; Jayden Tuchscherer, Horace, 85; Ellie Greenberg, Grand Forks Red River, 85; Kelsey Schulz, West Fargo Sheyenne, 85; Aubrey Sellheim, West Fargo Sheyenne, 85; T24. Olivia Carney, Fargo North, 86; Julia Melhus, West Fargo Sheyenne, 86; Mikayla Schwindt, Dickinson, 86; Victoria Collins, Horace, 86; Aurelia Knutson, Bismarck Century, 86.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BISMARCK \u2014 Even a reocurrence of a lower-back injury couldn\u2019t faze Izzy Hale. The Mandan junior golfer, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[367649,427,367646,367647,367648,99],"class_list":["post-872471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-bismarck-state-golf-meet","tag-golf","tag-nd-class-a-2026-golf-meet","tag-nd-class-a-girls-golf","tag-north-dakota-class-a-golf-meet-2026","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}