Local golfers excel on home course
Polson's Torrin Ellis hits an approach shot on the No. 1 fairway Monday at Polson Bay Golf Course. Ellis tied for fifth with a 75. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Ronan's Kylee Neimeyer hits a drive on the old course. Neimeyer finished seventh with a 93. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Polson's Carson Hupka strokes a putt on his way to a 76 Monday at Polson Bay Golf Course. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Ashley Maki of Polson shot a 92 to finish in fifth place. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Polson golfers held up well under pressure from some of western Montana’s top programs during the annual one-day Polson Invite on Monday at Polson Bay Golf Course.
Thirteen schools were represented, including junior varsity teams from Class AA Glacier and Flathead.
As expected, the boys team competition boiled down to Polson versus Whitefish, two squads expected to vie for a state title Oct. 1-2 back on the same course.
Nine of the Top 10 boys scores came from the Bulldogs (five) and the Pirates (four), who finished in a tie for first in the team standings at 302 strokes each. Third-place Libby was 30 strokes off the pace.
Christian Lund Paced the Pirates with a 74, followed by Torrin Ellis (75), Carson Hupka (76) and Hunter Emerson (77) all in the Top 10.
Libby’s Reece Malyevac shot the day’s best round, a 71, to claim the boys title. Billy Smith and Marcus Kilman of Whitefish matched Lund’s 74 for a three-way tie for second.
The Ronan boys were led by Ruben Couture (90), Dillon Pretty On Top (96) and Nash Niemeyer (97). The Chiefs finished 12th in the team standings.
Clare Konen finished fourth with a 91, one stroke better than teammate Ashley Maki, to lead the Lady Pirates to a second-place finish, five strokes behind Frenchtown. Meanwhile, Alyssa Pretty On Top and Kylee Niemeyer of Ronan both shot 93, though the Maidens didn’t have enough golfers to compete for the team title.
Macee Greenwood of Corvallis shot 74 to pace the girls field, followed by Katie Lewis of Frenchtown (78) and Aly Rose of Hamilton (87).
“We’re really pleased,” Polson head coach Cameron Milton said Tuesday. “We played well. Our improvement on both sides, boys and girls, has been incredible over the last year.”
Divisional play is set for Sept. 24 at Hamilton, followed by the Class A state tournament back in Polson the following weekend.
Also last week, the Lady Pirates cruised to the team title at Libby, while the Whitefish boys beat second-place Polson by 33 strokes.
The Pirates won the team title at the Corvallis Invitational, held in Missoula on Sept. 7. Hupka (78) and Ellis (79) were the top finishers in the boys field. The Lady Pirates had a short squad and did not qualify for team standings.
Polson Invitational
Sept. 13 at Polson Bay GC
Boys team scores: t1, Polson, 302; t1, Whitefish, 302; 3, Libby, 332; 4, Hamilton, 337; t5, Dillon, 359; t5, Flathead JV, 359; 7, Glacier JV, 360; 8, Corvallis, 366; 9, Frenchtown, 370; 10, East Helena, 376; 11, Polson JV, 380; 12, Ronan, 386; 13, Columbia Falls, 400; 14, Browning, 448.
Boys Top 15: 1, Reece Malyevac (Lib) 71; t2, Billy Smith (Wf) 74; t2, Marcus Kilman (Wf) 74; t2, Christian Lund (Pol) 74; t5, Torrin Ellis (Pol) 75; t5, Johnny Nix (Wf) 75; 7, Carson Hupka (Pol) 76; 8, Hunter Emerson (Pol) 77; 9, Bjorn Olson (Wf) 79; t10, Max Cianflone (fr) 80; t10, Riley Brown (Wf) 80; 12, Mason Anderson (Cor) 81; t13, Kamas Romney (Fr) 83; t13, Dylan Morris (FlaJV) 83; t15, Cole Dickamore (Ham) 84; t15, Dylan Buckner (Lib) 84; t15, Mason Gotham (Lib) 84.
Local boys: POLSON (302) – t2, Christian Lund 74; t5, Torrin Ellis 75; 7, Carson Hupka 76; 8, Hunter Emerson 77; t30, Espn Fisher 90; POLSON JV (380) – t34, Eli Konen 94; t37,Cole Cross 93; t48, Teagan Gage 97; 54, Xavier Ward 98; 70, Seth Ingram 117; RONAN (386) – t30, Ruben Couture 90; t44, Dillon Pretty On Top 96; t48, Nash Niemeyer 97; t58, Trey Samsel 103; t66, Cooper Clary 112.
Girls team scores: 1, Frenchtown, 386; 2, Polson, 391; 3, Corvallis, 406; t4, Whitefish, 413; t4, Hamilton, 413; 6, Browning, 461; 7, Flathead JV, 565; 8, Columbia Falls, 473; fewer than 4 golfers: Ronan, East Helena, Glacier JV, Dillon.
Girls Top 15: 1, Macee Greenwood (Cor) 74; 2, Katie Lewis (Fr) 78; 3, Aly Rose (Ham) 87; 4, Clare Konen (Pol) 91;t5 , Ashley Maki (Pol) 92; t5, Brooklyn Brown (Ham) 92; t7, Alyssa Pretty On Top (Ron) 93; t7, Kylee Niemeyer (Ron) 93; 9, Bridget Anderson (Fr) 96; 10, Caroline Karvelsson (GlaJV) 98; 11, Macy Whisenand (Wf) 100; 12, Grace Martello (Fr) 101; t13, Kylee Seifert (Pol) 102; t13, Addy Bowler (CF) 102; t13, Stella Jaffe (Wf) 102.
Local girls: POLSON – 4, Clare Konen 91; t5, Ashley Maki 92; t13, Kylee Seifert 102; t19, Kila Cannon 106. RONAN – t7, Alyssa Pretty On Top 93; t7, Kylee Niemeyer 93; t16, Aaliyah Decker 104.
Libby Invitational
Sept. 10 at Cabinet View GC
Boys team scores: 1, Whitefish, 299; 2, Polson, 332; t3, Libby, 366; t3, Flathead, 366; 5, Glacier, 371; 6, Ronan, 374; 7, Frenchtown, 376; 8, Corvallis, 387; 9, Columbia Falls, 404.
Boys Top 10: 1, Markus Kilman (Wf) 71; 2, Johnny Nix (Wf) 74; 3, Billy Smith (Wf) 75; t4, Torrin Ellis (Pol) 76; t4, Carson Hupka (Pol) 76; 6, Mathew Peshel (Wf) 79; 7, Reece Malyevac (Lib) 80; t8, Hunter Emerson (Pol) 82; t8, Ruben Couture (Ron) 82; t8, Riley Brown (Wf) 82; t8, Tyler Williams (Fla) 82.
Local boys: POLSON (332) – Carson Hupka 76, Torrin Ellis 76, Hunter Emerson 82, Espn Fisher 98, Christian Lund wd. RONAN (374) – Ruben Couture 82, Nash Niemeyer 90, Dillon Pretty On Top 96, Cooper Clary 106, Trey Samsel 113.
Girls team scores: 1, Polson, 390; 2, Frenchtown, 411; 3, Whitefish, 442; 4, Libby, 518; 5, Flathead, 578; fewer than 4 golfers: Ronan, Corvallis, Columbia Falls, Glacier.
Girls Top 10: 1, Katie Lewis (Fr) 74; 2, Macee Greenwood (Cor) 79; t3, Ashley Maki (Pol) 95; t3, Kylee Seifert (Pol) 95; t3, Alyssa Pretty On Top (Ron) 95; 6, Clare Konen (Pol) 96; 7, Kylee Niemeyer (Ron) 97; t8, Ava Leopold (Cor) 99; t8, Macy Whisenand (Wf) 99; 10, Mackenzie Foss (Lib) 102.
Local girls: POLSON – Ashley Maki 95, Kylee Seifert 95, Clare Konen 96, Kila Cannon 104; RONAN – Alyssa Pretty On Top 95, Kylee Niemeyer 97.
Corvallis Invitational
Sept. 7 at UM Golf Course
Boys team scores: 1, Polson, 329; 2, Hamilton, 352; 3, Corvallis, 371; 4, Ronan, 381; 5, Frenchtown, 387; fewer than 4 golfers: Stevensville.
Boys To 12: 1, Carson Hupka (Pol) 78; 2, Torrin Ellis (Pol) 79; 3, Max Cianflone (Fr) 84; 4, Jackson Heath (Ham) 84; 5, Kamas Romney (Fr) 85; 6, Mason Anderson (Cor) 85; t7, Hunter Emerson (Pol) 86; t7, Christian Lund (Pol) 86; 9, Tate Jessop (Cor) 87; 10, Nash Niemeyer (Ron) 88; 11, Ruben Couture (Ron) 88; 12, Cole Dickamore (Ham) 88.
Local boys: POLSON (329) – Carson Hupka 78, Torrin Ellis 79, Hunter Emerson 86, Christian Lund 86, Espn Fisher 91; RONAN (381) – Nash Niemeyer 88, Ruben Couture 88, Dillon Pretty On Top 99, Cooper Clary 106, Trey Samsel 106.
Girls team scores: 1, Hamilton, 420; 2, Frenchtown, 430; 3, Stevensville, 534; fewer than 4 golfers: Corvallis, Polson, Ronan.
Girls Top 10: 1, Katie Lewis (Fr) 84; 2, Macee Greenwood (Cor) 87; 3, Aly Rose (Ham) 87; 4, Clare Konen (Pol) 95; 5, Kylee Niemeyer (Ron) 100; 6, Kylee Seifert (Pol) 103; 7, Alyssa Pretty On Top (Ron) 105; 8, Grace Martello (Fr) 107; 9, Ashley Maki (Pol) 108; 10, Aaliyah Decker (Ron) 109.
