HJ Sports Blog

By Stephen Wiblemo
Sports Editor
The sun was shining, and the wind was calm Monday when the Dassel-Cokato boys’ golf team opened its season by hosting the first Wright County Conference of the year at Albion Ridges-Boulder Golf Course.
Coming into the season, there were a lot of questions the young Charger team had to answer.
How would a team with one returning letter winner fare in its first meet?
How would the team’s five new varsity golfers handle the pressures of playing in their first WCC meet?
How would sophomore Tyler Koivisto, the team’s lone returning letter winner from last season, handle his new role as the leader and number one golfer on the team?
DC head coach Brian Johnson had all of these questions going into the first meet, and by the end of the day, the team had given him their answer.
The Chargers played surprisingly better than anticipated, even for playing on their home course, where teams are expected to have a little more advantage over visiting golfers.
As a team, DC came in with a score of 169 to place fourth in the season-opener.
Orono was first with a 150, Litchfield was second with a 163, and Waconia was third with a 165.
Individually, junior Phil Morris led the Chargers with a 39 in his first WCC meet, just three strokes over par, placing him in a five-way tie for sixth place overall.
Brice Ryynanen came in with a 42, Tyler Koivisto scored a 43, and Ryan Koivisto and Neil Harmala both scored 45 to round out the team-score contributors.
DC’s sixth golfer, Dan Morris, scored a 49.
“We got a lot of firsts out of the way today,” Johnson said. “We had a guy that cracked the 30s for the first time, we had a lot of first conference meets, and first varsity meets overall.
“It was a shock for me to see us all come in (under 50), and to see Phil Morris, who had some varsity experience, but has never played in a Wright County Conference meet, shoot a 39.”
Out of the nine WCC teams at the meet, Orono and Waconia were the only other teams not to have any golfers score a 50 or higher.
It was an auspicious start for the young team, and no one was happier about it than Morris.
“I started with a bogey,” he said. “I was on in two, so I got on the green in regulation, but then I three-putted. I had a couple of those this round, but I was on the green mostly, so I could get bogey or par.”
Putting was a big key for Morris’ score. He had 17 putts total, which means he still has room for improvement, but did a lot better than in his qualifying round the team played before.
“My drives and my irons were really good,” he said. “I still have to work on my chipping and putting.  I dropped a few putts, but 17 is pretty good. It shows improvement from 21 during qualifying.”
“We’ve been working through qualifying with his putting,” Johnson said. “It was so quick. We were trying to get him to see the putt, and to feel the putt before actually getting over the top of the ball and putting.
“For him, to hit that 39 right away, it shoots a lot of confidence in.”
The second score came from Ryynanen, another first-time high school golfer.
Ryynanen opened his round with a triple bogey, but managed to straighten his things out, and even had a big chip-in to score a birdie.
“I got a chip-in on a par 3 and it got me back in it,” he said. “I was pretty fired up about that. It was from the bunker, and I was little nervous because normally I’m not that good from the bunker.”
“He has been so coachable,” Johnson said about Ryynanen. “He started with a triple bogey on a par 5. I’m sure he was nervous, but to come back and shoot a 42 is dynamite . . . A kid in his first varsity meet that starts off with a triple bogey could have bagged it right there and come in with a 55. He showed some mental toughness.”
DC’s top golfer, Tyler Koivisto, came in with the third score for the Chargers, something he wasn’t exactly happy with.
“I could have done better,” he said. “My putting was pretty off, and I wasn’t hitting my irons well. My driving was fine, but my irons were rough.”
According to Tyler, he was a little nervous, at first, golfing in the number-one spot for DC, knowing that he would be grouped with some of the big boys of the WCC.
“I was really nervous at first,” he said. “But they are cool guys.”
Although he wasn’t thrilled with his 43, he showed some leadership. After finishing his round, he went straight to the putting green to get some practice in.
“He was bummed with his 43, but he knows that he missed a lot of his short game,” Johnson said. “One year ago, if he would have come in with a 43, he would have been doing cartwheels around the clubhouse. For the one year of experience we have seen out of him, that is huge, and that is the type of leader we need him to be.”
DC’s fourth score came from both Ryan Koivisto and Neil Harmala.
Ryan played bogey golf for a majority of the round, but had one nice highlight when he scored a birdie on a par-3 hole.
Harmala, a senior, decided to join the team late, after hearing there could be some openings. He managed to sprinkle in three pars to come in with a bogey score.
Even DC’s sixth scorer, Dan Morris, managed to have a decent round, which was highlighted by a birdie on a par-4 hole.
The Chargers were thrilled with the results of their first meet, but knowing that it was a home meet, where they are more familiar with the holes, and therefore a little better, they know the true challenges lie ahead as they travel to face other WCC teams on their home territory.

Mon., April 13
Team scores - 1. Orono 150, 2. Litchfield 163, 3. Waconia 165, 4. Dassel-Cokato 169, 5. Delano 175, 6. TIE-Glencoe-Silver Lake and Annandale 180, 8. Mound-Westonka 183, 9. Watertown-Mayer 187
Medalists - 1. Andrew Whitchurch (L) 34, 2. Patrick Johnston (O) 36, 3. Chris Hanson (O) 37, 4. Devin Kerbaugh (A) 37, 5. Matt Peterson (O) 38, 6. TIE – Phil Morris (DC), Alex Luedtke (Del), Mike Knutsen (O), Patrick Van Kirk (Wac) 39, 10. TIE – Tyler Burmeister (Wac) and Dakota Clark (O) 40
Individual scores
Dassel-Cokato - Phil Morris 39, Brice Ryynanen 42, Tyler Koivisto 43, Ryan Koivisto 45, Neil Harmala 45, Dan Morris 49
Annandale - Devin Kerbaugh 37, Tyler Ericksen 46, Jake Ergen 47, Matt Lashinski 50
Delano - Alex Luedtke 39, Kyle Kreklow 43, Dalton Sowers 43, James Olson 50
Orono - Patrick Johnston 36, Chris Hanson 37, Matt Peterson 38, Miles Knutsen 39
GSL - Tim Savre 42, Joel Pohland 44, Tyler Breyer 47, Taylor Krauth 47
Waconia - Patrick Van Kirk 39, Tyler Burmeister 40, Matt Lund 43, Jesse Sterner 43
Litchfield - Andrew Whitchurch 34, Luke Magnuson 41, Matt Thomas 42, Josh Polingo 46
Watertown-Mayer - Joe Ryan 42, Mike Hill 47, Josh Matrella 49, Derek Vanderlinde 49
Mound-Westonka - Mike Ewing 43, Broc Couser 44, Dan Schepers 45, Riley Williams 51
Chargers take fifth at WCC meet in Waconia
The Chargers got their first taste of playing on an unfamiliar course Tuesday when they traveled to Waconia’s Island View Golf Course.
Although the results weren’t as good as their first meet at home, things still didn’t go terribly.
DC finished the meet with a score of 179, putting them in a three-way tie with Annandale and Glencoe-Silver Lake for fifth place.
Tyler Koivisto was the only Charger able to improve on his previous score, as he came in with a 42 to lead DC.
Harmala stayed steady, coming in with a 45 to mark DC’s second score, and Phil Morris and Brice Ryynanen each marked a 46 to equal the team’s score.
Tyler could have had a great round as he birdied on a par-5 and par-4 hole, but besides those, he pared just one other hole. He bogeyed on four holes, and double bogeyed on two to set him back.
No one else was able to score a birdie on the day.

Tue., April 14
Team scores - 1. Orono 150, 2. Waconia 158, 3. Litchfield 165, 4. Delano 178, 5. TIE-Dassel-Cokato, Glencoe-Silver Lake, and Annandale 179, 8. Mound-Westonka 183, 9. Watertown-Mayer 187
Medalists - 1. Patrick Johnston (O) 34, Andrew Whitchurch (L) 37, 3. Patrick Van Kirk (Wac) 37, 4. Brian Urness (O) 38, 5. Chris Hanson (O) 39, 6. Lucas Johnson (Wac) 39, 7. Miles Knutsen (O) 39, 8. Matt Thomas (L) 40, 9. TIE-Devin Kerbaugh (A), Tim Savre (G), Matt Rachey (Wac), and Tyler Burmeister (Wac) 41
Individuals
Dassel-Cokato - Tyler Koivisto 42, Neil Harmala 45, Brice Ryynanen 46, Phil Morris 46, Ryan Koivisto 49, Dan Morris 57
Annandale - Devin Kerbaugh 41, Jake Ergen 44, Tyler Ericksen 47, Mitch Pruitt 47
Delano - Alex Luedtke 43, James Olson 43, Kyle Kreklow 45, Dylan Scheck 47
Orono - Patrick Johnston 34, Brian Urness 38, Chris Hanson 39, Miles Knutsen 39
GSL - Tim Savre 41, Joel Pohland 44, Tyler Breyer 47, Trevor Breyer 47
Waconia - Patrick Van Kirk 37, Lucas Johnson 39, Matt Rachey 41, Tyler Burmeister 41
Litchfield - Andrew Whitchurch 37, Matt Thomas 40, Luke Magnuson 43, Josh Polingo 45
Watertown-Mayer - Joe Ryan 42, Josh Matrella 48, Derek Vanderlinde 48, Tyler Schmidt 49
Mound-Westonka - Broc Couser 44, Riley Willams 44, Mike Ewing 46, Dan Schepers 49