Section 8-3A
Individual highlight: Brainerd's Julia Wallace shaved off seven strokes to finish 10th
Team highlight: Warriors place fifth
PEQUOT LAKES-Julia Wallace went to bed with a clear conscience.
Her goal of advancing to the Class 3A state tournament didn't materialize Thursday despite shooting a final-round 84 at The Preserve at Grand View Lodge during the Section 8-3A tournament.
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It was one stroke too many and kept her out of a playoff for the fifth and final individual spot to advance to the final tournament of the school year.
Wallace finished her high school golfing career with a two-day 175, which placed her 10th overall and helped the Brainerd Warriors to fifth place as a team.
Buffalo surprised nobody by repeating as section champion. Alexandria's Bridget Amundson proved the most consistent female golfer of the tournament with rounds of 78-78 to earn the section individual title.
"I've had this quote on my wall that says, 'All that matters is if you can look at yourself in the mirror at the end of a game or round and know you gave it your all," Wallace said. "I did give it my all. It didn't go my way, but that's how golf goes, I guess.
"Now I'll jump back in the pool next week."
Wallace is headed to Minnesota State University Moorhead next fall and will swim for the Dragons, but she'll remember her first nine holes Thursday.
Wallace, who started her round on the back nine, shot a 1-over 37-a 10-stroke improvement from her opening round. But like Wednesday's first round, Wallace struggled on the front nine.
Her troubles didn't occur until after she got her score back to even par with a birdie on the par 5 first hole.
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"I just went into it today knowing I had nothing to lose so I wanted to go down swinging," said Wallace. "I started out with a par, which was really good for the nerves. Then I birdied the next hole so I knew it would be a good day. I made the turn at one-over and then I birdied hole 1, which was my 10th hole, so I was sitting even.
"Then I took a quad (4-over-par on a hole). I still knew I was fine because that meant I was four over through 11 (holes), which is incredible for me. I just told myself, 'Forget about it. It was bound to happen.'"
Another quadruple bogey a few holes later and a double bogey on the par 3 eighth hole didn't help matters. She did birdie the par 4 seventh and finished her round with a par for her 84, but as she saw it, she was 13-over-par for her last eight holes.
"Last year I was really surprised when I came in fourth after the first round and I came into the second day on a high," Wallace said. "I thought that was awesome and I could do it. That wasn't good for the nerves, though.
"It would have been nice to have been in the top five going into today's round, but looking in on it, I knew I had a shot if I just played my game how I knew I could. I knew that I could slip in there."
And she almost did. She trailed only Macy Sen and Molly Fossen of Sartell. Both finished with a 174 and had to compete in a playoff for the fifth and final state position.
Brainerd sophomore Alexis Menghini finished 16th as she matched her opening-round 95 to shoot a combined 190. Seventh-grader Katie Foley improved by one stroke from her opening-round 96 to conclude her first section tournament with a two-day 191, which landed her 20th.
That was one spot in front of teammate Maren Pelowski, who shot a combined 191. Maggie Mattson finished 25th and Abby Pohlkamp 28th.
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Those scores helped Brainerd improve its first-round total by three strokes. Alexandria and Bemidji were the only other teams to improve their scores.
"Overall, I think the pins were extremely tough," said Warriors head coach Todd Person. "Watching, especially Alexis Menghini out there, she really made a lot of putts, especially on her first nine. She struggled a little bit on her second nine, but she'll get better.
"I think it was a great experience for Katie Foley as well. Overall it was good for everyone involved. It's just too bad Julia fell a stroke short of making that playoff."
Team scores: 1-Buffalo 331-344 - 675, 2-Alexandria 348-338-686, 3-Bemidji 369-346-715, 4-Sartell 366-371 -737, 5-Brainerd 371-368-739, 6-Willmar 395-406-801
Section champ: Bridget Amundson (Alex) 78-78-156
Brainerd results: 10-Julia Wallace 91-84-175, 16-Alexis Menghini 95-95-190, 20-Katie Foley 96-95-191, 21-Maren Pelowski 90-101-191, 25-Maggie Mattson 99-94-193, 28-Abby Pohlkamp 95-100-195
