After a 3rd place finish in section 1AAA and a great season the Owatonna Girls Golf team will be sending sophomore Carmen Jirele to compete individually at the Girls State Golf tournament. 

The Huskies this year were a rather young team with only one senior in the program however, they found great success in the season ending off 29-4 placing second in the Big 9 conference, with 3 golfers being named Big 9 All-Conference. Senior captain Danika Kaytor said, “I thought it was special that our team is so young yet shoots such good scores. I think it was one of the most successful scoring years that Owatonna girls golf has had in a while.” 

The 1AAA Girls Golf section tournament took place on Thursday, May. 30 concluding with the team finishing in 3rd and Jirele becoming the section champion. Jirele has been the Huskies number one spot throughout the year leading the Huskies in all their competitions. The team has looked to improve day by day helping push each other to be better. Jirele said, “ My favorite thing about our team is the people and how fun it is to be around them. We had a small team this year so it was fun to get to know everyone and become closer to them. We like to jokingly say to each other  “Don’t suck” before our meets.” 

With such a young team the Huskies are looking forward to the next year helping build strong goals to work towards throughout the year. Jirele will be at the front of these Husky goals helping push her team day by day. Head Coach Jason Kaytor said,” I’m excited for Carmen. I think the biggest thing she brings to the team is her dedication to the game and her high level of competition. She’s always wanting to get better.” The season for the Huskies next year will be very interesting to watch as they compete to be one of the best teams in Minnesota.

Jirele will tee off June 11 at 11:00 a.m. at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Anoka, Minnesota, for the Girls 1AAA State Golf meet.