Hi-Liner Golf best Team Score of Season

The Valley City Hi-Liners continued their strong spring stretch on what was easily the best weather day of the season so far, turning in their lowest team score of the year with a 324 at the Edgeley-Kulm Invitational held at Kulm Country Club on Wednesday.

Valley City finished third overall in a competitive 12-team field, trailing only tournament champion Napoleon/G-S (309) and runner-up Linton/HMB (312).

Leading the way for the Hi-Liners was eighth grader Gray Kasowski, who delivered his best varsity performance to date with a 76, good for a tie for fifth place individually. Kasowski caught fire on the back nine, carding birdies on three consecutive holes to surge back into contention near the top of the leaderboard.

Seventh grader Gavin Wiebe narrowly missed the top 10 after shooting an 81, while fellow eighth graders Kallen Hansen and Beck Dietrich added rounds of 83 and 84 respectively.

What stands out about this Valley City squad right now is the depth and consistency developing throughout the lineup. All six Hi-Liner golfers posted solid rounds on a day where conditions finally allowed players to attack the course a bit more aggressively, and the result was the program’s best team score of the spring season.

Additional Hi-Liner scores included Riley Roelfsema with an 87 and Austin Anderson finishing with an 88.

The Hi-Liners will now turn their attention to a big opportunity on their home course, as Valley City hosts the Region 3 meet Monday, May 11, at Bjornson Park Golf Course beginning at 10 a.m.

Round Recap:

• Gray Kasowski finished tied for 5th overall in a field loaded with upperclassmen, despite being just an eighth grader himself. His 76 was only four strokes off the tournament lead.

• Kasowski’s back nine was electric — shooting a 36 coming in after a 40 on the front side, including three straight birdies during his late-round surge.

• Valley City placed four golfers inside the top 24 overall individually:

  • Gray Kasowski — T5th (76)

  • Gavin Wiebe — T11th (81)

  • Kallen Hansen — T18th (83)

  • Beck Dietrich — T22nd (84)

• Gavin Wiebe, only a seventh grader, narrowly missed a top-10 finish by just one stroke with his 81.

• The Hi-Liners had remarkable lineup balance:

  • Top four scorers separated by only eight strokes.

  • All six varsity golfers shot 88 or better.

• Valley City’s 324 team score beat several strong regional programs and finished:

  • 6 strokes ahead of host Edgeley-Kulm

  • 22 strokes ahead of Oakes

  • 59 strokes ahead of Carrington.

• The Hi-Liners continue showing one of the younger lineups in the region, with major contributions coming from:

  • two seventh graders

  • three eighth graders

  • one freshman.

• Riley Roelfsema carded an 87, while freshman Austin Anderson added an 88 to round out one of the team’s deepest scorecards of the season.