BUFFALO LAKE — Fairmont golfers Jake Harris, Tanner DeWar, Alexander Moeller, David Maakestad, Brock Lutterman and Colby Grotte anxiously watched the Section 3AA leaderboard with Cardinal head coach Brad Haugen inside the Oakdale Golf Clubhouse on Thursday.

The question on everyone’s mind, “Would Fairmont’s combined total of 336 be enough to fend off New Ulm for the fifth and final qualifying team bid to Day 2 of the sectional golf tournament?”

The answer would be … yes, by a mere two shots.

“When I was watching the scores come in on the app on my phone, we started climbing the standings,” said Haugen. “We moved past Worthington and into seventh place, then past Pipestone into sixth and then by Redwood Valley for fifth.

“(New Ulm standout) Glavine (Schugel) had to come in 3-under (par) to beat us and he finished 1-under (during the final nine holes of his round), so it came down to the wire.”

Harris and DeWar produced top-15 individual performances to pace Fairmont’s Day 1 effort that earned the Cardinals a spot in Tuesday’s second round of the sectional tournament at 9 a.m. back at Oakdale Golf Course near Buffalo Lake.

Harris penciled in a team-leading 18-hole round of 39-40-79 on the strength of 11 pars on the day. Harris proved consistent by sinking six pars on the front nine holes before closing with five more on the back side of the par-72 course.

While Harris tied for ninth place individually overall, DeWar finished only two strokes behind his Fairmont teammate to share 15th place overall. DeWar opened with three pars to pace a 44 on the front side before blistering the back nine with eight pars to close with a co-leading 11 pars and a 37 en route to a round of 81.

Moeller and Maakestad each produced identical totals of 45-43-88 to complete Fairmont’s counting scores during Day 1 of the sectional. Moeller netted five pars, while Maakestad connected for three.

Lutterman and Grotte each broke the century mark to round out Fairmont’s effort. Lutterman sank five pars to pace a round of 50-47-97, while Grotte tallied one par en route to a 50-49-99.

Mason Plante produced a runner-up medalist round of 75 to power Marshall to first-place team honors with a 318 — seven strokes better than Jackson County Central. Minnewaska Area (327) and New London-Spicer (332) claimed the third and fourth spots, respectively, to qualify for Tuesday’s second-round play.

Schugel topped the entire field by firing an even-par round of 37-35-72, highlighted by birdies on Nos. 3, 7, 14 and 15, and 10 pars to pace New Ulm’s sixth-place team total of 338.

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Section 3AA Boys Golf

Tournament — Day 1

Team Standings (Top 5 advance to Day 2): 1. Marshall 318; 2. Jackson County Central 325; 3. Minnewaska Area 327; 4. New London-Spicer 332; 5. Fairmont 336; 6. New Ulm 338; 7. Redwood Valley 341; 8. Pipestone Area 347; 9. Worthington 356; 10. Litchfield 364; 11. Windom Area 371; 12. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 374; 13. Luverne 376.

Fairmont scores: Jake Harris 39-40-79; Tanner DeWar 44-37-81; Alexander Moeller 45-43-88; David Maakestad 45-43-88; Brock Lutterman 50-47-97; Colby Grotte 50-49-99.

Individual Results: 1. Glavine Schugel (New Ulm) 72; 2. Mason Plante (Marshall) 75; 3. Scott Flatebo (JCC) 76; 4. (tie) Aiden Guggisberg (New Ulm), Cody Thompson (Pipestone) and Spencer Ehlers (Marshall) 77s; 7. (tie) Alec Kocak (JCC) and Zach Josephson (Redwood Valley) 78s; 9. (tie) Cole Harste (Minnewaska), Jake Harris (Fairmont) and Riley Larson (Minnewaska) 79s; 12. (tie) Landon Frost (Marshall), Noah Dietz (NLS) and Seth Olson (Montevideo) 80s; 15. (tie) Connor Josephson (Redwood Valley) and Tanner DeWar (Fairmont) 81s; 17. (tie) Drew Nelson (Minnewaska), Jack Brinkman (JCC) and Nixion Harrier (NLS) 82s; 20. (tie) Peyton Cochran (NLS), Sam Tipka (Litchfield) and Tylan Porath (Windom) 83s; 23. (tie) McCaden Biever (Pipestone) and Nick Weg (Worthington) 84s.

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Day 2 Individual Qualifiers: Glavine Schugel (New Ulm) 72; Cody Thompson (Pipestone) 77; Aiden Guggisberg (New Ulm) 77; Zach Josephson (Redwood Valley) 78; Seth Olson (Montevideo) 80; Connor Josephson (Redwood Valley) 81; Sam Tipka (Litchfield) 83; Tylan Porath (Windom) 83; McCaden Biever (Pipestone) 84; Nick Weg (Worthington) 84; Lucas Boever (Worthington) 87; Jackson Roll (Windom) 88; Domico Arrendondo (Redwood Valley) 89; Braxton Thompson (Pipestone) 90; Josh Gulden (New Ulm) 90.