The Austin boys’ golf team entered Monday’s Big Nine Championship in fourth place in the regular season standings.

Wednesday, May 24, 2000

The Austin boys’ golf team entered Monday’s Big Nine Championship in fourth place in the regular season standings.

But after its most disappointing day of the season, the Packers finished seventh in the conference.

Austin shot a 315 at Northern Hills in Rochester, 14 strokes off the pace set by the Big Nine champs from Rochester Century.

"This was certainly not the outcome we had hoped for," Austin coach Claudia Pilot said. "I would have to say that penalty strokes, putting and prom were the problems.

"Some players were too exhausted from a big weekend of activities, and when you are tired physically, it is difficult to stay focused mentally."

Adam Plotts’ provided the Packers with their biggest highlight, a round of 76 on the par 72 course that put him in the top 10. Plotts birdied five holes.

Pilots’ Packers had been shooting lights out of late, winning a pair of Twin Cities tournaments.

"The good news is, we don’t have to end our season on this bad note, we have the sections starting on Thursday," Pilot said. "I am still a believer that this team is one of the best in the state, and they had a very off day today."

Team Scores

1 Rochester Century 301

2 Owatonna 305

3 Mankato East 305

4 Albert Lea 306

5 Faribault 306

6 Winona 314

7 Austin 315

8 Mankato West 316

9 Roch Mayo 319

10 Roch JM 323

Big Nine individual Champion (Tie)

Lee Schloesser, Century 72

Luke Benoit, Faribault 72

Big 9 Final Standings

1 Century 18

2 Owatonna 17

3 East 15

4 Faribault 11

5 Albert Lea 11

6 Winona 10

7 Austin 9

8 Mayo 8

9 West 9

10 JM 2

(Points are based on regular season wins, plus points awarded for Monday’s round based on place

finish … 10 points for first, nine points for second, eight for third, etc.)

Austin individuals

Adam Plotts 39-37 76

Brian Duren 40-37 77

Jeff Clark 40-39 79

David Lorenzen 42-41 83

Greg Williamson 40-43 83

Chris Larson 48-42 90

Austin Girls at Big Nine

Sophomore Brittany Bertilson had another fine outing for the Packers.

At Monday’s Big Nine Championships in Mankato, she earned All-Conference honors with a second-place finish at the Mankato Northern Links Golf Course.

She took one more stroke, 82 in total, than Katie Taylor of Owatonna.

Taylor led her Huskies to the Big Nine championship.

Their top four scores used a total of 353 strokes to get around the coarse.

Austin finished in seventh place in the tournament, 379, and in seventh place in the Big Nine.

"Our score was okay," Austin coach Mark Anderson said. "I still think we can shoot lower than this.

"We have had a lot of strokes come off since the beginning of the season. We will need to take a few more off in the first round of the section tournament Thursday in Faribault.

"We need to shoot in the low 370s or in the 360s to advance to the second round. The top eight teams qualify."

Packers earning Big Nine honorable mention with their play at the tournament and throughout the year were Claire Johnson, Kelly Jones and Alison Stutzman.

Team Results

(final Big Nine record equals one win for each regular season win and one win for each team beaten in Monday’s tournament)

1. Owatonna (18-0) 353

2. Winona (13-5) 357

3. Mankato West (15-3) 357

4. Faribault (13-5) 367

5. Century (11-7) 376

6. Mankato East (7-11) 376

7. Austin (6-12) 379

8. John Marshall (3-15) 396

9. Albert Lea (4-14) 405

10. Mayo (0-18) 406

Austin Scores

Brittany Bertilson 40-42 82

Claire Johnson 47-48 95

Alison Stutzman 51-47 98

Andrea Petersen 49-55 104

Kelly Jones 52-58 110

Noelle Wiebelhaus 55-55 110