Bulldogs tops at divisional tourney

Both Whitefish Bulldog golf teams walked away with top honors at the 2010 Northwestern Class A Divisional tournament held last Saturday at Mission Mountain Golf Course. The boys out distanced runner-up Polson by more than 30 shots, while the girls were nearly 40 shots better than the Lady Pirates.

Reed Platke won his third straight divisional title, and Kiley McConnell won her second medallist honors. McConnell was the divisional champion as a freshman and again this year as a senior. In fact, she has won every event this season except one. Platke has won five times and placed second twice during this season.

Both McConnell and Platke are poised to make a run at individual honors at state. McConnell was fourth last year, and Platke was the winner in 2009, leading the boys to their fifth title in the last six years.

Danielle McCully captured second place at the divisional tournament, with freshman Erin Tabish finishing in fourth for the five-school event. Klaire Taylor placed ninth, and Emma Dowaliby completed the girls' strong showing with a 12th place finish. The girls team score of 364 was better than their average for the season.

"I was really proud of the girls' performance at divisional this again this year," coach Terry Nelson said. "I fully expected the kind of results they posted. This was a good preparation for our state tournament this week in Laurel."

Billings Central, last year's state champion team, returns nearly all of their starters and will be a strong contender at state again. Haley Craven will travel to state as the alternate to play in case one of the girls is unable to play.

Camp Canyon and Dylan Parr both finished with 79s and were tied for the fourth-best scores at the tournament. Freshman Arthur Doorn posted an 80 to also finish in the top-10. Kyler Blades rounded out the boys team with an 86 over the Ronan course.

"The boys' score of 311, while pretty good, will need to be lower at state to claim their third-straight title in Laurel," Nelson said. "Hamilton's boys are the team to beat at state this year, but they will have to go through a tough Bulldog team to win."

Carl Talsma is the alternate for the boys but could see action due to Kenyon's recent injury to this right knee.

"Our team is fortunate to have a back-up player like Carl ready to step in at state," Nelson said. "For the boys to repeat, they will need to have very steady performances and shoot their averages both next Friday and Saturday at state."

Boys

Team Totals

Whitefish 311, Polson 342, Columbia Falls 354

Top 15 Individuals

1. Reed Platke, Whitefish 73

2. Jordan Mueller, Columbia Falls 77

3. Cody Fischer, Polson 79

4. Parker Johnson, Columbia Falls 79

5. Camp Kenyon, Whitefish 79

6. Dylan Parr, Whitefish 80

7. Arthur Doorn, Whitefish 83

8. Hayden Congdon, Polson 83

9. Louis Cielak, Libby 85

10. Dakota Jenson, Polson 85

11. Riley Dennis, Ronan 88

12. Kyler Blades, Whitefish 89

13. Payton Adams, Ronan 90

14. Nick Emerson, Columbia Falls 94

15. Austin Von Tom, Polson 95

Girls

Team Totals

Whitefish 364, Polson 399, Columbia Falls 463

Top 15 Individuals

1. Kiley McConnell, Whitefish 78

2. Danielle McCully, Whitefish 85

3. Amy Williamson, Polson 90

4. Erin Tabish, Whitefish 96

5. Kat Medland, Polson 100

6. Jaylin Kenney, Polson 103

7. Paige Delauranti, Ronan 104

8. Klaire Taylor, Whitefish 105

9. Alex Dulmes, Ronan 106

10. Anna DiGiallardo, Polson 106

11. Mikaliah Wilson, Polson 107

12. Nika Geratova, Columbia Falls 108

13. Emma Dowaliby, Whitefish 113

14. Michelle Hagen, Columbia Falls 116

15. Courtney Tamburelli, Columbia Falls 116