FARGO - Grand Forks Red River senior JoDee Wheeler knew she had a hard road ahead of her Monday if she wanted to capture a second consecutive East Region girls golf title.
Trailing the leader by six strokes through nine holes, Wheeler honed in on each shot. And she closed the gap.
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Wheeler used an even-par 36 on the back-nine to earn the East Region title by one shot over second-place Kathleen Marsh of Fargo Davies at Edgewood Golf Course. The Eagles earned the region team title with a 324. Fargo North finished second at 345.
"I didn't play terrible on the front," Wheeler said. "I had a couple bad holes. But going into the back I just knew I needed to put a good score up just to be happy with how I played. I didn't know how she was going to play. I took it hole-by-hole, eventually caught her and made a run on the last hole."
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Wheeler tipped Marsh, who struggled to a 41 on the back-nine while playing in another group.
Wheeler had no idea Marsh finished with a 78.
Fargo North junior and Wheeler's playing partner, Annie Twells, was Wheeler's measuring stick.
Twells, who finished second to Wheeler in the East Region regular season with an 80.7 scoring average, held the lead after nine holes with a blistering 1-under 35.
Wheeler watched Twells roll. But she didn't get caught up in the chase.
"I try to focus on myself because you never know what can happen," Wheeler said. "You never know how somebody else is going to play. It can come down to one shot, one hole. She had a big lead at the turn."
Wheeler kept hitting fairways, and a putter that had been inconsistent on the front-nine came alive on the final nine holes.
She cut three strokes off the lead when she birdied the par-4 No. 12. Twells carded a 7 on the hole.
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Wheeler and Twells were tied heading to the 18th.
With Marsh waiting in the clubhouse, Wheeler finished off her 77 with par. Twells' second triple-bogey of the back-nine sealed the win for Wheeler.
Twells finished tied for third with Fargo Davies eighth-grader Jennifer Marsh at 80.
"I was just trying to make par," Wheeler said of the final hole. "I thought if I made par I had a chance to win it."
Davies secured the first region tournament title in school history. The team won each of the eight events on its schedule en route to the regular season crown.
Wheeler was named East Region senior athlete of the year. Fargo North's Jolene Schue was named region coach of the year.
The North Dakota Class A state girls golf tournament is scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday at Edgewood.
"We have a pretty dependable team," Jennifer Marsh said. "That's what we had today."
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"I definitely think we could win (state)," Kathleen Marsh added.
Team scores: Fargo Davies 324, Fargo North 345, West Fargo 361, Grand Forks Red River 363, Fargo South 374, Wahpeton 392, Devils Lake 394, Valley City 407, Grand Forks Central 415, Fargo Shanley 420
Top 10 scores (all-tournament): 1, Wheeler, GFRR, 77. 2, K. Marsh, FD, 78. 3 (tie), Twells, FN, and J. Marsh, FD, 80.
5, M. Gemar, FD, 81. 6, St. Germain, FS, 82. 7, Bixby, WF, 83. 8, Long, FN, 84. 9, Meyer, FD, 85. 10 (tie), Berg, FN, and Unterseher, FS, 87.
Other finishers
Shanley: Corbid 89, Armstrong 100, Hanson 108, Thimjon 114, Goehring 119, Dietz 132.
Valley City: Spenningsby 97, Anderson 99, Gilbertson 102, Ronningen 109.
North: Spiess 94, Jenson 102, Lingbeck 116.
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Davies: Woken 91, B. Gemar 97.
Wahpeton: Irwin 92, Haselhorst 97, Hibl 99, Darwin 104, Strand 106, Rubish 108.
South: Grothmann 97, Baumann 108, Johnson 114, Weaver 136.
Devils Lake: Hanson 95, K. Brandt 98, J. Brandt 99, Vose 102, Dahlen WD.
Grand Forks Central: Ferguson 93, Sigurdson 102, Marshall 109, Lindgren 111, Anderson 112, Fairley 132.
Grand Forks Red River: Knecht 92, Holmen 97, Halverson 97, Debeltz 102.
West Fargo: Rheault 91, Johnson 92, Wasem 95, Peterson 109, Brown 119.
Readers can reach Forum reporter
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Heath Hotzler at (701) 241-5562.
Hotzler's blogs can be found
