Back-to-back days shooting 71 gave Glacier High School senior Sam Engellant a comfortable three-stroke lead to continue his streak of medalist honors at the Butte Invitational on Sept. 11-12.
Engellant led the Wolfpack to a two-day team score of 608, coming up four strokes short of Sentinel High School and ending a season-long winning streak by the boys team. Butte and Flathead rounded out the top team teams with 636 and 662 respectively.
Spartan Gabe Sheppard was second overall, shooting 145, while Glacier’s Torren Murphy and Flathead’s Dylan Morris tied for fifth with a score of 152.
The Wolfpack girls picked up their third team title of the year with a total of 770, ahead of Belgrade in second with 774. Flathead’s girls finished in fifth with 888 points.
The Kalispell teams were led by Glacier’s Vaida Cole and Flathead’s Kyrie Gislason tied in fourth shooting 188.
“These players have really figured out what it means to play as a team, and how important it is to focus on every shot. Every shot counts,” first-year Wolfpack golf coach Jim Ness said. “I haven’t had to change a lot from a technical standpoint. They’re all pretty dialed in. The last thing I wanted to do when I came on was mess with someone’s physical prowess, but we’ve been able to do a lot of work on the mental side of the game and how to work your way around the golf course.”
Glacier and Flathead will both compete at the Kalispell Invitational on Sept. 18 and 19 at Village Greens and Buffalo Hill golf courses. The Class AA state tournament will be held at Northern Pines Golf Course the first weekend in October.