MSU golf teams kick off fall season in Bemidji | News, Sports, Jobs

The Minot State University (MSU) golf teams will be in action this Monday and Tuesday, with the men’s team taking on the Bemidji State Invitational and the women’s team taking on the Tracy Lane Memorial Tournament. The Beavers will begin play on Monday, September 9 at Bemidji Town & Country Club in what will be the first of five fall tournaments.

On the men’s side, Joshua Tu, Max Karnik, Chase Gedak, Casey Fjeld, Zach Hendrickson and Gage Olson will return to compete for the Beavers.

Chase Gedak shot a career-low 67 at the 2023-2024 Maverick Invitational, won the tournament title at the Marauder Fall Invitational and finished 8th at the NSIC championship.

In addition to Gedak, five other returning Beavers shot career-low rounds, including Zach Hendrickson, who shot 70 at The Watkins, MaxKarnik, who shot 73 at the Maverick Invitational, Casey Fjeld, who shot 76 at the Maverick Invitational and Gage Olson, who shot 81 at the Augustana Invitational.

Senior Joshua Tu of Santa Clara, Calif., is in his fourth year as a Beaver. Joshua Tu has improved his rankings each year he has competed for the Beavers at the NSIC championships, finishing 45th in 2021-22, 43rd in 2022-23 and tied for 35th in 2023-24.

“Our freshmen have the potential to come in and make an impact right away.” said Beavers head coach Eli Mihalick. “The talent injection should make all of our practices and playoffs much more competitive and make the entire team better. We expect big contributions from these kids right away, not just this year, but for the next few years as they begin their careers at Minot State. We added Jace Carlisle as a graduate transfer and expect his experience playing in a DII National Championship to help our entire roster.”

On the women’s side, six Beavers will return to compete with the addition of Minot-raised freshman Meadow Roberts. Returning players include Taylor Cormier, Jaci Jones, Holly Knudsen, Abigail Goettle, Zoe Banack and Lauryn Keller.

Holly Knudsen led the Beavers in the 2023-24 season and tied for 21st place at the NSIC championship. Knudsen also tied for a career-low 76 at the Sioux Falls Invitational. Taylor Cormier and Jaci Jones tied for 30th place at the NSIC championship in the 2023-24 season.

Taylor Cormier and Lauryn Keller both shot career-low rounds at The Watkins, with Cormier shooting 75 and Keller shooting 78. Also posting career-low rounds were Zoe Banack with an 81 at the Marauder Invitational and Abigail Goettle with an 84 at the SW Minnesota State Classic.

“We expect the same performance from Taylor Cormier, Holly Knudsen and Jaci Jones as they finish their careers with the Beavers.” said Mihalick. “Last year was promising at the end and those three definitely want to finish their careers strong. They showed a lot of dedication and definitely put in the effort to lower their scoring averages. We also expect Zoe Banack and Lauryn Keller to have good years for us because they’re going to be big pieces for the women’s team this year and we’re really happy with the continued improvement we’ve seen from Abigail Goettle. If we can continue to improve every week, I think this year can be a really good year for the women as well.”

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