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After making it to state on her own the last two seasons, Abby Koivisto will be joined her teammates this year.
With Koivisto leading the way, Northeast Range/Ely easily won the team title at the Section 7A golf meet, which wrapped up Wednesday at McGregor.
NRE’s two-day score of 412 easily topped Pine River-Backus, last year’s titleist, by 31 strokes.
No other team fielded a full roster. Koivisto tied for third overall with a 36-hole score of 186, and the senior got plenty of help from her teammates, as Maizy Sundblad, Cylvia DeBeltz and Danica Sundblad were all in the top-10.
The 7A championship marked the end of a mission, of sorts, for NRE.
“After last year, Pine River beat us by 12 strokes but we knew they were losing a lot of their good golfers,” said NRE Head Coach Rob Simonich. “We were favored to win and it was our goal the whole year to get there and beat them. Especially with Abby in her last year, we wanted to go as a team, and the girls all did well.”
NRE, which advanced to the State Class A meet to be held June 11-12 at Becker, led by 29 strokes after Tuesday’s first round play and the lead held up in the second round.
Koivisto had scores of 87 and 99 and tied Pine River-Backus eighth-grader Lyric Aulie, and was 18 strokes behind winner Kianna Johnson of Walker-Hackensack- Akeley.
Maizy Sundblad tied for fifth with a 203 (102-101), while Cylvia DeBeltz recorded scores of 108 and 118 to place eighth.
Danica Sundblad (231, 115, 116) took 10th and Carena DeBeltz (235, 121, 114) was right behind in 11th.
NRE’s Ezra Chamberlin placed 17th with a 274.
In the 7A boys meet, NRE lagged behind in the team standings although Ely senior Tommy Homer took 13th in a field of 45. He shot an 88 in the first round and followed up with a 92 for a score of 180, which was 36 strokes behind winner Parker Brock of Walker- Hackensack-Akeley.
NRE’s Wes Sandy was 22nd with a 194 (96, 98), and senior Robert Towley placed 28th with a 204 notching matching 102s each day.
Lewis Powell finished 38th with a 235.
