BILLINGS − Last season, Livingston’s Anna Lende finished as the runner-up at the two-day Class A state golf tournament.
This season Lende, now a senior, looks to claim the individual Class A state crown this weekend at the Sidney Country Club after finishing second last year to Frenchtown graduate Katie Lewis, who won her third individual state title last fall and now golfs for the University of Montana.
And she’ll be riding in with the momentum just like last year. Lende, who fired a 160 (80-80) at state last season, won her second consecutive Eastern A Divisional individual title with a 2-over 74 last Friday at Lake Hills Golf in Billings, good for the best girls individual score across both Class A Divisional tournaments.
“It’s such a mental game,” Lende said last Friday. “(I) just (need to) make sure that I know my game is there. I just have to stay positive.”
Lende’s chase for an individual title isn’t the only storyline, either. Billings Central’s girls are trying to repeat as state champions, Polson sophomore Max Milton aims to win his second state title in his second year of high school and Corvallis looks to ride a stellar Western A Divisional outing into state.
State A golf
Oct. 3-4
at Sidney Country Club, Sidney (Par 72)
2024 medalists: Polson’s Max Milton (boys), Frenchtown’s Katie Lewis (girls)
2024 team champions: Laurel (boys), Billings Central (girls)
Milton dominated his home Polson Bay Golf Course last year for his state title by shooting a 136 (66-70). He’s also coming off a 1-over 73 for third at the Western A Divisional at Hamilton Golf Club.
But in front of him were Brady Powell and Tag Jessop of Corvallis, who finished 1-2 at Hamilton with Powell firing a 69 for the individual title and Jessop a 72 to lead a 296 team-title effort from the Blue Devils, who had all four scorers finish within the top seven.
That 296 was the lowest team score across both divisionals as well, clearing the other seven teams − which includes defending state champion Laurel − by at least 15 strokes, including Western A Divisional teams by at least 27 strokes. The top four teams in each divisional advanced to state along with the top eight individuals (including ties) not on qualifying teams.
Corvallis isn’t the only team entering state red-hot, too.
Billings Central’s girls, in search of the program’s 12th state title in program history, fired a 339 behind four top-six finishes at Lake Hills, beating the entire state by at least 33 strokes in both divisionals.
But Rams coach Tony Derrig is making sure his team stays hungry.
“Take nothing for granted,” Derrig said last Friday of his team’s game plan for state. “No one is handing out a state championship trophy today. They have to go down and have to earn it. They’re not going to call us and say, ‘Don’t bother coming. We’re just going to give it to you.’ That’s not going to happen. That’s the mentality that we have to have.”
Laurel’s Grady Wilder enters state as the Eastern A Divisional individual boys champion, beating Livingston’s Stuart Gentry in a one-hole playoff after both shot 73s through 18 holes, while Hamilton’s Cameron Burnett carded a 76 to be the Western A Divisional girls individual medalist, which helped lead the Broncs to a team crown (372).
Livingston’s boys team had the second-lowest score across both divisionals and won the Eastern A Divisional (311) with four top-15 finishes. The Rangers are also one of four teams to have both boys and girls team advance to state. Billings Central, Frenchtown and Dillon all sent both teams to state.
And the conditions at Sidney Country Club look to be favorable. The high on Friday, as of late Tuesday night, is predicted to be 78 while Saturday’s high is projected to be 66 with both days being cloudy, per wunderground.com. There was also a 42% chance of rain on Saturday as of late Tuesday night.
But no matter the conditions, Livingston boys and girls golf coach Jamie Brown, like many others competing this weekend, is excited to see what her golfers can do.
“I would say consistency and mental game. No blow-up holes and just being able to play scrappy,” Brown said last Friday. “There’s a lot of young talent in this program — I’m only losing two seniors, Anna and Raymond (Olds). And so as long as we can keep the nerves under control and we can keep our focus on maintaining consistency, then I’ll think we’ll be just fine.”
Email at Jonathan.LeBlanc@406MTSports.com and follow on X/Twitter @JLeBlanc_21.
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