Sue Sitter/PCT Panthers golfer Mari Melgaard, right, practices with her team on the Rugby Golf Course driving range.

The Rugby High School Panthers girls’ golf team is off to a strong start after two meets against Region 4 rivals Velva and Bottineau.

Coach Angie Zietz said the class B schedule has several meets slated before the start of school to avoid any conflicts with school time.

The Panthers won the first two meets on the schedule. They traveled to Underwood on Aug. 16 and Rolla-St. John on Aug. 19 for more games.

“Our season always starts the first Monday in August,” Zietz said. “Our season’s only eight weeks from start to finish, so we don’t have much choice starting before school starts to get enough practices in.”

Zietz said she liked the way the Panthers started their season. She especially liked the positive changes she’s seen in Panthers’ golfers returning from last year.

“There’s been a lot of growth,” she said. “I think the nice thing about fall golf is they can practice all summer.

“Because of this, there’s been a lot of growth with all of them, and they’re ready to go,” she said. “The energy they gave off to start their season has been good.”

The team consists of five varsity players and two junior high and junior varsity players.

Zietz said she has seen good things from returning players Libby Dulmage, a co-op student from Leeds; and Reese LaRocque of Rugby. Both are seniors, and both competed at state in 2021.

Rounding out the 2022 Panthers are Ashlyn Dibble, a Rugby High sophomore; Maci Iverson, a Leeds High School junior; Mari Melgaard, a Rugby High freshman; and Rugby eighth graders Tallie Dosch and Marly Santjer.

Zietz said the Panthers took first place at the team’s first meet in Velva on Aug. 5.

“We tied for first place as a team in Velva,” she said. “We took first in Bottineau as well.”

Dulmage, who had placed fifth as an individual at state in 2021, placed first among individuals at both meets.

Zietz said so far, the Panthers seemed state-bound for 2022.

“I think we’ll make it back to state as a team and with multiple individual qualifiers,” she predicted.

“There are some girls who have been performing really well, and continually taking top ten spots,” she said. “And at regionals, if they take top ten, they’ll go individually as well.”

Zietz, a paraprofessional at Ely Elementary School during the school year, said she works at the Rugby Golf Course clubhouse in the summer, where she’s had the opportunity to see several Panthers golfers practicing.

“With me working out here, I see them quite often,” she said. “Mostly, a couple of weeks before the season starts, I’d see them out here every day. But throughout the summer, I have girls who come out a couple of times a week and get going.”

Zietz said so far, the summer practice seemed to pay off for the Panthers.