They did it again.
Litchfield’s girls golf team claimed its 12th conference championship in 15 years Friday. Though they finished fourth in the final Wright County Conference West Division meet of the season, the Dragons had built up such a lead in early meets that they still won the title with a 41-stroke cushion.
All six Litchfield golfers also earned conference recognition, with Lauren Erickson, Amelia Benson, Elsa Opjorden and Natalie Randt making all-conference, and Ciarra Resmen and Kylie Michels earning all-conference honorable mention.
For the Dragons golf program and coach Bill Huhner, it might be old hat. But it’s also reason to celebrate.
“I enjoy, I love success,” Huhner said. “I love to see our kids have success and be happy with what they’re doing.”
With another conference title to their credit, and with every member of the all-senior lineup earning all-conference recognition of some sort, what’s not to be happy about?
“I think we really want to make sure we end on a good note, and that we’re making sure we’re having fun, and that we’re having no regrets on the course,” Erickson said heading into Friday’s meet. “We just play with a positive attitude, and it’s really maybe not about the outcome, but just about the fact that we’re remembering it. We’re there in the moment.”
Though maintaining their conference dominance might weigh heavily on some players, this year’s senior lineup said they felt no real pressure. Instead, some said, they chose to take a Huhner mantra onto the course with them during each meet this season.
“Huhner always says, ‘Be bold,’” Michels said. “So I think before every meet, we go into it taking that advice from him. I think we’re all just confident and bold. That’s how we do it.”
With a conference title secured, the Dragons look to continue that bold play in the Section 3AA meet, which gets underway today at Oakdale Golf Course in Buffalo Lake. The tournament sees the top five teams and 10 individuals not on a top-five team advancing to the second round, which is scheduled for Wednesday, June 1.
The Dragons hope to play themselves into the second round, something Litchfield teams have done each of the past five seasons. But “be bold,” right?
“In the section, you can qualify as a team even if you have a really bad individual score. Or if your team bows out, you can still qualify as an individual because you shot really good,” Huhner said. “There’s a lot for these girls to play for.”
Perhaps the biggest thing to play for, if one listens to Huhner discuss the game and his team, however, is self-improvement, not just on the golf course, but life in general.
“It’s hard sometimes because they think every swing has to be successful,” Huhner said. “Well, we all know, everybody knows from playing golf. It’s not that way. Golf is an imperfect game, played by imperfect human beings. I know the part that is so fun for me to coach … is to get them to understand, OK, you just played a terrible hole, you just got to 10. But my point with them is, I don’t care if you get a 10. The point is, what do you do the next hole? Because that’s what life is. You’re gonna have ups and downs. How do you rally back from that?
“That’s part of success, he added. “So that’s just part of growing, maturing both as a golfer and as a human being.”
This year’s team is unusual in Huhner’s tenure as coach, with every one of the six varsity positions filled by a senior. But while they’re all in their final year of high school golf, they came to the game at different stages.
Resmen started in fourth grade, Opjorden thinks she first picked up a club in sixth or seventh grade. Michels remembers going out to the course when she was younger, but she was more interested in track as a spring sport once she reached middle school, before shifting to golf as a sophomore. Benson says she’s been play her whole life and joined the golf team in middle school.
Erickson and Randt didn’t start playing until their sophomore years. Randt says her grandfather brought her out to the course one day during the COVID pandemic.
“He just said he was bored and wanted someone to golf with him,” Randt said. “So he brought me out. And then he really encouraged me to try out for varsity.”
Erickson’s encouragement came from a different source: “Basically, Huhner just persuaded me that it’s a really fun sport, and it just seemed like a really fun environment. And it’s kind of like a family, a welcoming family and just made me really want to join.”
That “family” philosophy is one Huhner does his best to nurture, and he points to it — along with the dedication of the players in the program — as a strong reason for Litchfield’s success.
“I would say we really focus on team first,” he said. “We’re a family. We take care of each other. Everybody’s part of it.
“And our program has been really blessed with so many great girls with both intelligence and athleticism,” he added. “The girls, their focus, desire and attitude throughout the years has been fantastic. Their approach and attitude towards golf and what we are teaching is so positive. That is a huge reason for our accomplishments.”
WRIGHT COUNTY CONFERENCE WEST
FINAL STANDINGSLitchfield 2001, 2. New London-Spicer 2042, 3. Watertown-Mayer 2067, 4. Glencoe-Silver Lake 2081, 5. Dassel-Cokato 2114, 6. Annandale 2138, 7. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted/Maple Lake 3318, 8. Rockford 8993.
WRIGHT COUNTY CONFERENCE WEST MEET
Friday at Shamrock Golf Club, Corcoran
Team scores: 1. Glencoe-Silver Lake 186, 2. New London-Spier 197, 3. Annandale 197, 4. Litchfield 198, 5. Watertown-Mayer 198, 6. Dassel-Cokato 203, 7. Howard Lake-Waverly Winsted 221, 8. Rockford 234.
Top five — 1. Eva Stuewe (GSL) 50, 2. Isabelle Dingmann (A) 41, 3. Annika Duininck (NLS), 5. Anna Mendiola (HLWW) 43, 5. Mackenzie Kohls (DC) 44.
LITCHFIELD — 7. Lauren Erickson 46, 14. (tie) Natalie Randt, Elsa Opjorden 50, 22. (tie) Amelia Benson 52.
