Great Falls Golf Invite leads off 2020 MHSA fall sports season

GREAT FALLS -- It's been five months since the COVID-19 pandemic brought an end to the high school state basketball tournaments, and on Monday, the Montana High School Association held its first actual competition since that fateful day on March 13.

The high school golf season teed off Monday afternoon with the annual Great Falls Invitational tournament.

But it's not quite business as usual. The traditional two-day event has been condensed to one day at two locations. Boys played at Eagle Falls, while girls competed at Meadowlark Country Club.

“In order for us to invite all of the teams that have traditionally come to this tournament, it wasn’t feasible to do it on one course,” said Great Falls Public Schools director of athletics Mike Henneberg. “Between MLCC and Eagle Falls, they were both very flexible. We flipped a coin and the boys ended up at Eagle Falls and the girls ended up at Meadowlark.”

Instead of being grouped by skill level, golfers are grouped by school to avoid exposure between teams. Henneberg is encouraged by what he saw and hopeful for what's yet to come.

“I’ve been very pleased with our people, I think they’ve complied and tried to enforce our policies and procedures,” he said. “The bottom line is coaches, administrators and kids understand that the stakes are pretty high, so we have to be diligent and follow the safety standards that are put in place and hopefully we’ll have a good outcome.”

It was an unusual afternoon for the athletes, but ultimately the chance to play outweighs any inconvenience or altered format.

“I think all of us are just happy to play,” said Great Falls High senior Trenton Olson. “We all want to do what we have to do.”

The event traditionally includes all Class AA teams, but the three Missoula schools declined to attend due to lack of coaches to cover both locations.

Bozeman Gallatin High junior twins Justus and Jordan Verge shared the individual win by carding a pair of 69 scores, leading the Raptors to a team win in the school’s first official MHSA competition. The two helped Bozeman High to back-to-back state championships the past two seasons before transferring to the brand-new Bozeman Gallatin High School in the offseason.

“I’m so grateful. We didn’t know what was going to happen this year and we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” said Justus. “We don’t take it for granted. There’s some weird rules, with no spectators and things are kind of iffy. But I’m so thankful that I’m still able to be out here.”

Four-time defending Class AA champion Bozeman High claimed a girls team title, while Kalispell Flathead’s Marcella Mercer was the girls medalist after carding a 75.

FULL RESULTS BELOW

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL SCORES

BOYS INDIVIDUAL SCORES