Rochester’s Kyle Hickeyrallied in the championship round to win the 20th Minnesota PGA Junior Boys Players’ Tour Match Play Championship this past week in Brainerd.
Hickey, who attends Lourdes and plays on its golf team, needed to defeat four opponents in match play to win the prestigious tournament at the Dutch Legacy Course at Cragun’s Resort. He had many close matches along the way.
Even though he was forced to extra holes twice, Hickey, the No. 35 seed, never trailed during his first three matches. He then found himself 2-down against fourth-seeded Jacob Pedersenin the championship match. Hickey then surged back to win 3-and-2.
"It’s definitely one of the biggest tournaments I’ve ever won," Hickey said in a news release.
"My putting was the strong point," he added. "I made a lot of timely putts. I’m always even-tempered and level-headed, which helps me to never get too high or low during a round."
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The victory earns him an automatic spot on the 2019 Minnesota PGA Junior Cup matches team.
"I’m really excited to be on the Minnesota PGA Junior Cup Matches team after missing out this past year," he said.
Hickey needed 21 holes to get past Nick LaMottein the quarterfinals and then nipped Carson Herronin 19 holes in the semifinals.
Hickey also was excited about the win because it came on the home course of his teaching professional, Chris Foley.
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Lauren Feehas received an athletic scholarship as a member of the women’s rowing team at the University of Kansas.
Fee, a 2017 John Marshall graduate, was recruited as a preferred walk-on at Kansas and earned her scholarship the spring semester after having an outstanding freshman year.
After earning a seat in the second varsity eight and recording some of the top team scores for the Jayhawks, Fee was named the team’s Outstanding Freshman for the 2017-18 season.
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Fee also was named to the Dean’s List, Athletic Director Honor Roll and Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team for the 2017-18 school year.
She was a member of the girls swimming and diving team at John Marshall.
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Tom Banceis the new boys basketball coach at Schaeffer Academy, a private high school in Rochester.
Bance replaces Jeremy Burget, who resigned following the 2017-18 season. Schaeffer had posted a stellar 36-13 record the past two seasons, winning 18 games each year. The Lions went 23-6 in the Southeast Conference during that span.
Bance is the former head boys basketball coach at Chatfield. He still teaches in the Chatfield School District.
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A pair of area players are high on the depth chart for the University of North Dakota football team as the team prepares for the 2018 season.
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Red Wing’s Travis Toivonen, a junior, is listed as a starting wide receiver. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Toivonen had a standout sophomore season at North Dakota. He played in 10 of the team’s 11 games and made five starts. He was third on the team in both receptions (30) and receiving yards (408). He caught one touchdown pass and averaged 13.6 yards a catch. He also rushed twice and each time scored touchdowns on 5-yard runs.
Caledonia’s Zeke Ottwas a redshirt in his first year at UND in 2017. Now the 6-3, 235-pounder is listed as a second-string defensive end.
North Dakota finished 3-8 overall last season and 2-6 in the Big Sky Conference. The Fighting Hawks open this season Aug. 30 when they host Mississippi Valley State. North Dakota moved from the Big Sky Conference to the Summit Conference starting with this school year. But the Summit does not have football. UND will play as an independent in football the next two seasons and join the Missouri Valley Conference for football in 2020.
