MITCHELL — It was a successful home tournament for the Dakota Wesleyan University golf team on Monday and Tuesday, with the Tiger men and women taking home team titles and Dakota Munger triumphing in the individual tournament at Lakeview Golf Course.
Munger won the DWU Spring Invitational men’s title with a two-day gross score 140, posting a 2-under-69 on Monday and an even-par 71 on Tuesday. Munger, a freshman from Pukwana, had a late charge Monday in cold conditions for a hot finish. He shot 4-under-32 on the front nine, which were his final holes of the day and with birdies at Holes 3, 4 and 5. On Tuesday, Munger answered an early bogey with birdies at Holes 9, 11, and 14 and withstood a double bogey at No. 16 to finish with a one-shot win.
Teammate Peyton Bettcher was second in the tournament, including shooting the round of the day on Tuesday, a 2-under-par 69. He finished 1-under for the tournament, shooting 141. Mount Marty’s Ted Bengton was three shots back with a 1-over 143 for 36 holes for third place, plus Jayce Johnson of Dickinson State (144) in fourth place and Briar Cilff’s Thavichakree Arunmala and DWU’s Connor Calahan tying for fifth place after shooting 146 over two days (74-72). The Tigers’ Drew Norberg also landed in the individual top-10 with a gross score of 149, shooting 74-75.
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
On the women’s leaderboard, Mount Marty’s Kelsey Heath won the tournament with a round of 78 on Tuesday to cap a three-shot win (158) over Black Hills State’s Katie Jorgenson and Dakota Wesleyan’s Allison Meyerink, who each shot 161. Jorgenson was the first-round leader after a 76 on Monday but finished with an 85 on Tuesday, while Meyerink rallied from an opening-round 84 to finish with a 77 on Tuesday, which was the women’s round of the day. Teammates Ashton Austreim (82-81) and Sara Sudenga (84-79) both finished in the top-10 for DWU, shooting 163 over two days.
The weather shortened the tournament from an initial 54 holes to 36, with play starting after 11 a.m. each day due to the cold weather. Monday’s temperatures hung around 40 degrees for much of the day before Tuesday’s play was held in warmer but windy conditions that gusted in excess of 30 mph.
The Tigers put the men’s team competition out of reach on Tuesday, shooting 3-over as a team and carding a 287. The two-day score of 576 was good enough to top second-place Dickinson State by 18 strokes (594), while Briar Cliff and Mount Marty tied for third as a team (607).
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
In the women’s scoring, DWU finished as the team champs by three strokes, shooting 657 over two days, including 324 on Tuesday. Dickinson State, which led the team competition by five strokes entering Tuesday, was second with a score of 660, followed by Mount Marty (673) and Northwestern (684).
Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com.
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