ABOVE: Fairmont’s Katherine Zelaya hits the ball off the tee of Hole 1 of Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake Wednesday during the second leg of the Section 3AA Girls Golf Tournament. Photo by Ari Selvry.

NORTH MANKATO – The Fairmont Cardinals girls golf team rounded out their season Wednesday in the Section 3AA Finals at Oakdale Golf Club.

As a team they finished fourth with a combined 780 over two days of golf. Minnewaska Area took first with a 638, followed by New London-Spicer with a 739 and Marshall with a 744. Litchfield finished fifth with an 800.

Only the winning team had all their players automatically qualify. There were five spots for golfers not on the winning team, and unfortunately Fairmont was not able to snag any. Katherine Zelaya was team best and 12th overall with a two-day total of 183, while Leslie Zarling was right behind with a 184 in 14th.

Carly Gustafson had a two-day score of 198, while Joslyn Meyer shot a 215, Ingrid Edman had a 233, and Kailyn Miller had a 247.

Coach Dylan Post said the word of the day for his team was “heart”.

“Our girls put a whole lot of heart into today’s round,” he said. “Last week their team score was 402 and they crushed that today with a 378, a new team low score for the year.”

The team will benefit from having all six members back next year.

“We knew coming in to this season that we had a young team,” Post said. “We plan on seeing all six of these amazing girls back next year full of heart and passion.”