Brainerd’s Erik Stoxen improved on his Day One round of 74 to shoot an even-par 72 in Day Two of the Class 3A boys state golf tournament Wednesday, June 15, at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Minneapolis.
The senior started on the 10th hole and birdied two of his first five holes to get to even par for the tournament.
“Starting out like that boosted my confidence throughout the round to be able to come back,” Stoxen said. “Starting 2-under after five definitely helped. I was actually making some putts today.”
He tallied back-to-back bogeys on holes 15 and 16 and shot an even-par 36 for his first nine holes.
“He was steady off the tee like he was yesterday,” Brainerd boys head coach Brian Wallace said. “He made some putts along the way and he just hung in there even though he had some bad breaks.”
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Stoxen then tallied three birdies on his second nine, but a double bogey at hole 5 and a closing bogey on hole 9 made him finish tied for 15th in state to end his Warrior career.
“Overall it went pretty good for me,” Stoxen said. “Having a bogey on the last hole is not how I wanted to go out. But I had enough birdies today and that helped me relax to get around things.”
Wallace added: “It’s a bittersweet ending. He just loves the competition and loves the experience. It’s hard when it ends, but he really had a good time.”
Earlier, Brainerd senior Anna Krieger backed up her even-par 72 Day One round with a 77 in Day Two to finish tied for seventh for a combined score of 149 in the Class 3A girls tournament.
Krieger carded two birdies. She was behind a tree on the 13th hole and had a double bogey, but bounced back to par four of the last five holes.
“Anna Krieger continued on what she was doing yesterday,” Warriors girls head coach Todd Person said. “To put two days back-to-back like this together is impressive. She was really feeling good both yesterday and today. She had some unfortunate things happen in her round today, but she bounced back, which was great. Any time she was hitting greens she was getting tap-in pars and had some putts go in for her, which was helpful.”
Izzy Olson finished tied 24th with a combined score of 160. Her Day Two round of 84 featured nine pars.
“Izzy just struggled to keep the ball in the fairway, which isn’t like her,” Person said. “Nice to see her end on a handful pars.”
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Katie Foley shot an 83 to finish with two-day score of 163 and tied for 31st. She carded eight pars for her Day Two round.
Girls Results:
Individual medalist: Reese McCauley (Simley) 70-69 139
Brainerd results: T7-Anna Krieger 72-77 149, T24-Izzy Olson 76-84 160, T31-Katie Foley 80-83 163
Boys Results:
Individual medalist: Nate Stevens (Northfield) 68-66 134
Brainerd results: T15-Erik Stoxen 74-72 146
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
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