Huskies score seventh after major state improvement
Owatonna senior Carmen Jirele pitches the ball toward the green at the Class AAA state meet. Jirele finished tied for eighth place at five over par and helped Owatonna to a seventh-place finish as a team. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna girls golf took home seventh place at the Class AAA state meet last week at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids by shooting a collective round total of 670 strokes.
The Huskies’ placement moves the team up one spot from 2025 when it finished in eighth with 702 strokes.
It’s not the first time this season that the Huskies have made strides from their 2025 team score.
Owatonna already defended its 2025 Section 1AAA title by improving its score from a year ago at sections by 31 strokes and nearly replicated the feat at state by shooting 32 shots below its previous mark.
Senior Carmen Jirele led all Huskies on the scorecards for the final time in her career, shooting a final total of 149 (74 in the first round and 75 in the second) to wrap her week in three-way tie for eighth place with Benilde-St. Margaret’s Alyssa Raghuveer and Minnetonka’s Selena Wu.
The 2024 Class AAA individual champion utilized all of her course knowledge having qualified and competed at state since her eighth-grade season in 2022 to help propel the Huskies into seventh place as a squad.
Jirele’s opening round was relatively smooth with three bogeys and one birdie to keep her just two strokes over par at 74.
The senior had a hotter start to the second day by scoring back-to-back birdies on the first two holes to begin the round two-under, but bogeys on four, six and seven saw her finish the front nine one shot over par.
On the back nine, Jirele bogeyed 12, 17 and 18 but got a stroke back by shooting a four on the par five 14th hole to finish with a 75.
Owatonna’s second-best finisher was eighth grader Danica Hager in 44th place.
The junior-high standout has now competed at state in her first two seasons as a varsity athlete and showcases a skillset and talent that draws comparisons to Jirele’s early career.
Hager’s first round was a bit shaky to start with three bogeys, two double bogeys and one birdie for a six-over front nine, but she settled in well to finish the back nine just three over to end the round at 81 total strokes, or nine shots over par.
She went on to birdie the first hole of the second day, but six more bogeys, three double bogeys and one triple bogey to go with one final birdie kept her scorecard at a second-day 85 for +13.
Senior Paige Thompson was close behind Hager and took 57th place with a final tally of 171.
Thompson rounded out her Huskies’ career by shooting an 86 (+14) in her first round and following up with an 85 (+13) on the second day.
Rounding out the tournament for the Huskies were Anna Hagenson and Ella Schuster.
The duo finished three strokes apart over the course of the two days with Hagenson recording 185 strokes (+41) and Schuster finishing at 188 (+44).
Both golfers, along with Hager, will bring a wealth of experience back to the team with Schuster returning as a senior in 2027, Hagenson coming back as a junior and Hager as a freshman.
