{"id":873603,"date":"2026-10-07T05:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873603\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T05:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:52:09","slug":"its-a-repeat-for-west-fargo-sheyenne-girls-at-state-golf-inforum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873603\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a repeat for West Fargo Sheyenne girls at state golf – InForum"},"content":{"rendered":"

BISMARCK \u2014 On the third hole of the North Dakota Class A state golf tournament, Izzy Hale reaggravated a lingering injury.<\/p>\n

By the time she was walking down the fairway on No. 18 the next day, the Mandan junior had all but locked up a state championship. West Fargo Sheyenne kept the key from last season to repeat as team champions.<\/p>\n

For Hale, there were plenty of interested observers, both at Riverwood Golf Course and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreatment worked,\u201d Mandan coach Dean Johs said. \u201cThe doctor\u2019s been on my phone for the last hour and a half texting back and forth. He\u2019s following.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hale followed her opening-round 77 with a 1-over 73 on Tuesday. After a string of birdies on the back nine, she tapped in a par putt on 18 to finish with a 1-over 73. Her 36-hole 150 was good for medalist honors, finishing seven shots ahead of runner-up Alexis Fabian of Grand Forks Red River (157).<\/p>\n

Fabian carded a two-day total of 157 to edge Ava Keene of West Fargo Sheyenne (158) by one stroke for second place.<\/p>\n

Keene, named the Senior Athlete of the Year, helped the Mustangs win its second title in program history.<\/p>\n

\"1000008491.jpg\"<\/p>\n

West Fargo Sheyenne’s Ava Keene chips her ball out of a bunker during the second day of the North Dakota Class A girls golf tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, at Riverwood Golf Course in Bismarck.<\/p>\n

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

Morgan Foss (tied for seventh, 163), Kelsey Schulz (tied for ninth, 164) and Julia Melhus (tied for 11th, 167) gave the Mustangs four top-20 finishers in posting a two-round team score of 651.<\/p>\n

That was 14 strokes better than runner-up Fargo Shanley (665). West Fargo Horace made it a 1-2-3 finish for East teams with a 676.<\/p>\n

The Mustangs took 17 strokes off their opening-round 334 with a team score of 317 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday was a challenge,\u201d Mustangs coach Dan Wolf said. \u201cIt was a tough day for everyone and I don\u2019t think like as a team we thought we played like we were capable and we said we\u2019ve got to go out and perform today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hale approached the green on the final hole knowing she was about to join Anna Huettl (2023) as the second Brave to win a state title.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a crazy feeling. Just crazy,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a grind. It was so much focus. I put in so much work and just had to stay focused. It felt good. I haven\u2019t had a back nine like that before, so that felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n

After closing with a 37 on the back nine on Monday, Hale put together a 34 on the back nine to finish, recording a string of three birdies in four holes and four in a span of six holes before closing with her ninth par of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy putting helped me a lot. I had 12 putts on the back nine,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer heart was amazing,\u201d Johs said. \u201cThat back nine was (like) watching a clinic. It was just, wow.<\/p>\n

\"1000008493.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Fargo Davies’ Sidney Elliott chips her ball onto a green during the second day of the North Dakota Class A girls golf tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, at Riverwood Golf Course in Bismarck.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt was amazing to watch. She was draining anything that was there and when she missed, she chipped it close and drained the putt. It was so much fun to watch. She was just calm and cool. I think my heart rate was higher than hers.\u201d<\/p>\n

West Fargo Sheyenne used its depth to win a second consecutive state title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was our secret all year was our depth,\u201c Wolf said. \u201cThere were players that contributed today that we didn\u2019t use their score yesterday and that\u2019s what got us to this point all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper proud of them. We had three senior leaders and the juniors came through huge \u2014 two of them in the top 10. Ava Keene finishing third, that was just huge. That was the difference, our depth and that so many people could contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n

After opening with an 80, Keene followed with a 78 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had two solid rounds,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cShe was disappointed yesterday and she played well today. Certainly there was nothing wrong, but Izzy Hale – what a great performance by her. She knew the course, knew how to play it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAva didn\u2019t have enough at the end, but third place overall \u2014 I know she dearly would have loved to have won it after her sister won last year, but I did remind her she\u2019s a two-time state champion, which her sister can\u2019t say, so there is that consolation.\u201d<\/p>\n

After getting off to a slow start on Monday, Mandan capped the week as the top West Region finisher, coming in fourth with a 677. After opening with a 353, the Braves turned in their best score of the year with a final-round 324.<\/p>\n

\"1000008492.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Fargo Shanley’s Anika Astrup tees off a hole during the second day of the North Dakota Class A girls golf tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, at Riverwood Golf Course in Bismarck.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cOur best day of the year. Our lowest score of the year,\u201d Johs said. \u201cWe kept track of it, to be at 12th at one point yesterday and to rise up and finish fourth, what a blessing. I even told Izzy on the last hole, if you hole out, we take third. That\u2019s all it would have taken. We told her to go for it. Why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Braves\u2019 strong finish was a relief for a team dealing with the emotions of a weekend fatal traffic crash that killed two Mandan teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u201cA beautiful day. We enjoyed it,\u201d Johs said. \u201cI enjoyed seeing the joy on our girls\u2019 faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause when we started yesterday, our hearts were heavy and our community is really heavy. We needed to bring some joy and we tasked them with that and they did it. So proud of them. So proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legacy\u2019s Bill Kalanek was named the state coach of the year. The Sabers finished fifth with a 681, four strokes back of Mandan and six shots ahead of Grand Forks Red River.<\/p>\n

Rawni Roemmich led the Sabers, shooting rounds of 80 and 81 to finish fifth individually with a 161.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BISMARCK \u2014 On the third hole of the North Dakota Class A state golf tournament, Izzy Hale reaggravated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[124796,427,99],"class_list":["post-873603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-girls-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873603","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=873603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}