Blomberg and Qiao star in competitive performances at state golf

Two area schools sent one student-athlete to the state girls golf tournament last week, with Aly Blomberg representing Park Center in Class AAA, while Breck’s Selena Qiao represented Breck in Class AA.

Park Center

Blomberg ended the first day in a seven-way tie for 34th place at a total of 82. That tie included golfers from Maple Grove, Wayzata, Minnetonka and Andover. The Pirates senior then ended the tournament with a 79 on day two for a total of 161, earning her a six-way tie for 25th place. She concluded the tournament with a total gross of 82 compared to a total par of 72 and a total pace of 5:08 on day one and 79 over 72 gross to par on day two with a total pace of 4:49.

Blomberg recently earned the Athena Award for the Pirates. The multi-sport student-athlete has committed to play golf next fall at Minnesota State University, Mankato. This year was far from the start of Blomberg’s golfing success. She finished 62nd overall in the 2021 AAA state tournament. She went to state again in her junior year and finished third in her conference that same season. Blomberg was ranked 44th in MNGolf.org’s individual girls high school rankings.

Breck

Selena Qiao represented Breck girls golf in the Class AA individual tournament. She ended day one tied for seventh with a total of 79 and then ended the tournament tied for seventh with Redwood Valley’s Mila Jenniges at 118 to conclude a highly impressive showing for the sophomore. She ended with a total gross of 79 compared to a total par of 72 on round one and 39 to 36 on day two. Her total pace on day one was 3:17 and 1:18 on day two.

Qiao was not a new face at the Class AA tournament, having qualified for the 2023 tournament out of Section 4 as a freshman. Her strong and still-early career with Breck has her ranked 80th in MNGolf.org’s individual girls high school rankings, which pit her against golfers from all classes, as of June 10.

Breck also had two boys golfers at the MSHSL Class AA tournament. Mark Hofer took 46th in the Class AA boys individual tournament. Jax Julkowski tied for 63rd in the boys individual tournament. Both had a total of 86 on day one. Hofer ended day two with an overall total of 122, while Julkowski’s was 125.