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Great Falls Golf Invite leads off 2020 MHSA fall sports season

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GREAT FALLS -- It's been five months since the COVID-19 pandemic brought an end to the high school state basketball tournaments, and on Monday, the Montana High School Association held its first actual competition since that fateful day on March 13.

The high school golf season teed off Monday afternoon with the annual Great Falls Invitational tournament.

But it's not quite business as usual. The traditional two-day event has been condensed to one day at two locations. Boys played at Eagle Falls, while girls competed at Meadowlark Country Club.

“In order for us to invite all of the teams that have traditionally come to this tournament, it wasn’t feasible to do it on one course,” said Great Falls Public Schools director of athletics Mike Henneberg. “Between MLCC and Eagle Falls, they were both very flexible. We flipped a coin and the boys ended up at Eagle Falls and the girls ended up at Meadowlark.”

Instead of being grouped by skill level, golfers are grouped by school to avoid exposure between teams. Henneberg is encouraged by what he saw and hopeful for what's yet to come.

“I’ve been very pleased with our people, I think they’ve complied and tried to enforce our policies and procedures,” he said. “The bottom line is coaches, administrators and kids understand that the stakes are pretty high, so we have to be diligent and follow the safety standards that are put in place and hopefully we’ll have a good outcome.”

It was an unusual afternoon for the athletes, but ultimately the chance to play outweighs any inconvenience or altered format.

“I think all of us are just happy to play,” said Great Falls High senior Trenton Olson. “We all want to do what we have to do.”

The event traditionally includes all Class AA teams, but the three Missoula schools declined to attend due to lack of coaches to cover both locations.

Bozeman Gallatin High junior twins Justus and Jordan Verge shared the individual win by carding a pair of 69 scores, leading the Raptors to a team win in the school’s first official MHSA competition. The two helped Bozeman High to back-to-back state championships the past two seasons before transferring to the brand-new Bozeman Gallatin High School in the offseason.

“I’m so grateful. We didn’t know what was going to happen this year and we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” said Justus. “We don’t take it for granted. There’s some weird rules, with no spectators and things are kind of iffy. But I’m so thankful that I’m still able to be out here.”

Four-time defending Class AA champion Bozeman High claimed a girls team title, while Kalispell Flathead’s Marcella Mercer was the girls medalist after carding a 75.

FULL RESULTS BELOW

Final Girls Team Standings:
Bozeman338
Senior346
West355
Butte360
Skyview378
Glacier379
Gallatin381
CMR400
Flathead403
Capital413
Belgradens
Helena Highns
Havrens
GFHns

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL SCORES

Marcella Mercer75Kalispell Flathead
Kenzie Walsh79Billings Senior
Sami Yates81Bozeman
Cierra Sundheim*82Billings Skyview
Cooper Knaar82Bozeman
Meilyn Armstrong83Billings Skyview
Kadence Fischer83Billings West
Bella Johnson83Billings West
Ella Prigge84Butte
Sami Benson84Billings Senior
Franchi Ceartin85Bozeman
Kelly Jones86Great Falls High
Chloe Tanner86Kalispell Glacier
Kodie Hoagland87Butte
Jillian Wynne87Kalispell Flathead
Alana Griffin87Kalispell Glacier
Halle Vandersloot88Gallatin
Elly Atkins90Bozeman
Kendra Thayer90Great Falls CMR
Lauren Mayala90Billings Senior
Barbara McGregor90Billings West
Addiliy Lloyd90Gallatin
Lexi McNew92Helena Capital
Bryn Turnquist93Billings Senior
Kennedy Lean94Butte
Stella Claridge94Kalispell Glacier
MacKenzie Finnegan95Butte
Morgan Sunchild95Great Falls High
Averi Bertram97Bozeman
Nacole Sestrich98Butte
Kylie Henderson98Great Falls CMR
Celi Chapmen98Helena High
Avery Fawcett99Billings Senior
Annika Brocklebank99Billings West
Ella Torsleff99Gallatin
Paige O'Mara100Helena Capital
Megan Swanson101Helena Capital
Tristan Zaremski103Great Falls CMR
Kailyn Hensel104Billings Skyview
Zoie Ceartin104Gallatin
Hayden Trost106Billings West
Alex Madsen109Great Falls CMR
Alex Miller109Billings Skyview
Jordan Whitaker112Belgrade
Leila Mamangum112Belgrade
Kenna Sandler112Kalispell Glacier
Gracie Mestas112Billings Skyview
Ryann Walker116Great Falls CMR
McKinlie Murer117Kalispell Flathead
Makayla Bury120Helena Capital
MJ Reid124Kalispell Flathead
Rilie McMahon126Belgrade
Cassidy Levert126Gallatin
Paige Springer131Helena Capital
Addison O'Neill143Great Falls High
Brooklyn Samson146Kalispell Flathead

Final Boys Team Standings:
Gallatin298
Glacier312
Senior317
Capital329
Flathead329
Bozeman333
West337
Helena High338
CMR340
GFH345
Skyview350
Belgrade355
Butte370

BOYS INDIVIDUAL SCORES

Justus Verge*69Gallatin1stwon scorecard playoff
Jordan Verge69Gallatin2nd
Jack Prigge72Butte3rd
Ezra Epperly74Kalispell Flathead4th
Eli Groshelle75Great Falls CMR5th
Tyler Avery76Kalispell Glacier
Will Salonen76Kalispell Glacier
Tyler Brunner76Billings Senior
Caswell Bloomquist76Helena Capital
Logan Meyer76Helena High
Tyler Avery76Billings Skyview
Will Salonen76Billings Skyview
Jacob Brandon77Bozeman
Trenton Olson77Great Falls High
Reece Mayala77Billings Senior
Austin Zeiler78Helena High
Coby Kunda79Kalispell Glacier
Siam Wilaluck79Billings Senior
Ramey Lloyd79Gallatin
Coby Kunda79Billings Skyview
Bryant Rivenbark80Bozeman
Keaton Cassidy81Kalispell Glacier
Gavin Klein81Gallatin
Keaton Cassidy81Billings Skyview
Connor Halligan82Billings West
Cale Hines82Helena Capital
Drew Lowry83Kalispell Flathead
Criox Flohr83Billings West
Luke Huber84Great Falls High
Kadin Gall84Kalispell Flathead
Jacob Wassmer84Billings West
Stevie Voigt84Gallatin
Jaxon Hinshaw85Belgrade
Ehtan Purdy85Kalispell Glacier
Joseph Driscoll85Billings Senior
Dutch Teders85Helena Capital
Ehtan Purdy85Billings Skyview
Cade Wagner86Billings Senior
Brett Stoos86Helena Capital
Anthony Madison87Belgrade
James Broderick87Bozeman
Kaleb Engel87Great Falls CMR
Noah Hollenback87Great Falls CMR
Brady Anderson88Butte
Joston Cripe88Kalispell Flathead
Treyden Haber88Billings West
Mitchell Fogelsong88Billings West
Nate Pailthorpe89Bozeman
Lucas Rose89Bozeman
Jacob Maroney91Belgrade
Wyeth Hayes91Great Falls High
Brevyn Goosen91Great Falls CMR
Byren Stoner91Helena High
Justin Garcia92Belgrade
Michael Perkins93Great Falls High
Dylan Dobbins93Helena Capital
Myles Jacobs93Helena High
Colter Gee99Belgrade
Hunter Pandis100Helena High
Joseph Lyons103Butte
Carter Phillips103Great Falls CMR
Sam Huckeba103Kalispell Flathead
Jacob Sawyer107Butte
Ethan McCurdy113Great Falls High