Valkyries bring home first at Eureka Invite

Montana’s unpredictable weather cut short the start to the Vikings and Valkyries golf season in Eureka over the weekend as teams completed play at the Wilderness Club Friday, but were forced from the course at Indian Springs by hail Saturday.

Despite the setback, the Vikings finished Friday third out of the four teams with enough golfers for a team score while the Valkyries were the better of the two schools with enough qualifying players in girls’ competition.

Freshman Colin Wade shot an 83 to win the day Friday, edging out Florence’s J.P Briney, who shot an 87.

“It was tough. It started out a bit cold and windy Friday and it was the first time on a golf course in a tournament setting for a lot of our team. It was good experience to get under our belt, even if we didn’t get to finish on Saturday,” head coach Brett Damakos said. “We had a good first day, so that was a good way for us to start the season.”

Along with Wade’s top finish, Cole McManaway shot a 102, Ian McMann a 124, Landon Byerman a 129 and Oscar Lee a 131 to give Bigfork a team score of 438. Eureka ended the day in first at 412, Clark Fork shot a 416 and Florence a 441.

Mackenzie Holton shot a 134 to lead the Valkyries, followed closely by Sydney Slawter’s 135 and Katie Hummel’s 139. Ava Hall shot a 158 Friday while Rio McGregor was at 170.

The Valkyries team score of 566 edged out Florence’s 571.

The highlight of the weekend may have come with co-head coach Kyle Parker’s shot on the 13th hole just as the hail was threatening to shut down the tournament Saturday. After the tee shot off Parker’s nine iron disappeared into the sea of white hailstones on the green, it was not until after an exhaustive search that he and Damaskos realized Parker had just sunk his first-ever hole-in-one from 168 yards.

The Vikings and Valkyries will be at home this week as Eagle Bend Golf Course hosts the Steve Hullett Invitational Tournament beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.