John's Journal: Trio Of Siblings Ready To Tee It Up At State Golf

As the competitors in the Class A state golf tournament travel to Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker, one threesome is making a trip they have made many times together over the years to many golf courses and many events. Siblings Mitchell, Marshall and Miley Dewey from West Central Area have played a lot of golf, and all three qualified for the two-day tournament that begins Tuesday.

Mitchell is a senior, Marshall a sophomore and Miley is in seventh grade. They will be joined at state by teammate Macy Grosz, a junior for the Knights.

“I was really excited that she made it, too,” said Miley, playing at state for the first time. Her brothers have played at state before, Mitchell twice and Marshall once.

Basketball fans may remember seeing Mitchell bank in a three-point shot at the buzzer to send a Class A state semifinal game against Fertile-Beltrami at Williams Arena into overtime. Fertile-Beltrami ended up winning 84-75 in triple overtime. That was West Central’s first trip to the boys state basketball tournament.

As someone wrote after that game, “Dewey’s big bomb at the end of regulation was one of those wild mailings that has a prayer stamped on the envelope.” (Story here: rb.gy/di2qwa)

This spring, Mitchell placed second in the Section 6 golf tournament and Marshall was third. Mitchell plans to attend Concordia College in Moorhead and play golf for the Cobbers.

Their mother, Chelle, is the coach of the girls golf team and their dad, Mark, knows how to swing a club, too. The Deweys live on Tipsinah Mounds Golf Course in Elbow Lake, an 18-hole layout.

“We live on the golf course so we can go out whenever we want,” said Mitchell.

Marshall, who also is a member of the football and basketball teams, has not qualified for state as an individual before, but has played at state when the team qualified.

“I’m just trying to go out and shoot my best,” he said. “I haven’t been there as an individual, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I’m usually worried about the team more, so it’ll be a different mindset.”

In a real quirky situation, West Central Area’s golf teams are members of two conferences, the West Central and the Quad County. In one conference tournament, Marshall Dewey finished first and Mitchell was second, and in the other league Mitchell was second and Marshall third. In the postseason a year ago, West Central was in Class 2A, where Mitchell tied for 33^rd during the state tournament at Ridges of Sand Creek in Jordan.

Jake Sutherlin of the Alexandria Echo Press wrote about the Section 6 golf tournament at Lakeside Golf Club in Perham. He wrote…

Mitch and Marshall were part of a WCA boys team that placed second at the meet with a 663, narrowly losing out to Park Christian's 658. Mitch finished second overall with a 154, and Marshall placed third with a 155. Tanner Doeden (Park Christian) won the event with a 151.

"I'm proud of all our boys for such a great year," WCA boys head coach Kraig Hunter said. "We won 11 of 15 meets, including both the Quad County Conference and West Central Conference championships. We had a solid group of guys with a competitive drive and great attitudes. They battled hard, but Park Christian was just a little bit better. We are still excited to see what Mitch and Marshall can do at state."

Miley and Grosz were part of the Knights' girls team that also placed second with an 812. Park Christian won the girls team section title with a 709. Miley finished eighth overall with a 193, and Grosz placed 10th with a 200. Anika Stromme (Park Christian) won the event with a 169.

The Dewey brothers will tee off 32 minutes apart on Tuesday morning while Miley will start her opening round at 12:16 p.m.

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]