Three events into the year and Middle Border golf is heating up in a hurry. The Ellsworth boys have finished second, fifth and third, and Prescott has a trio of seventh place finishes.

“We’re playing pretty good,” Ellsworth Coach Carson Huppert said. “We’re still a young team. It’s going to be a competition battle between our top five golfers probably all year long because our JV is doing extremely well as well. It keeps us competitive throughout the whole entire year. It keeps them on edge.”

For Ellsworth, the younger golfers have especially excelled, with freshmen Jordy Anderson and Nolan Helgeson off to massive starts. In the first event April 7 in Hammond, Anderson finished in a tie for fourth and Helgeson in a tie for seventh. Helgeson notched a second top 10 finish by taking 10th with a 41 score in Eau Claire on Thursday.

“The good thing about these kids is they are younger, but they’ve played in a lot of tournaments when they were younger,” Huppert said. “The experience level is there.”

Leading the pack, though, is junior Rowan Nelson, who tied for seventh in the opener and tied for a win in Eau Claire with a 38.

“What’s really good with him is his mindset. He doesn’t let the little things bother him. He’s a very positive human being,” Huppert said. “That’s why he’s just able to execute the next shot. Not a lot of people have that personality.”

Huppert said there are a lot of golfers on the roster that can step in and be top five on the team at any time, which keeps everyone working hard to have a spot all year long. That depth has shown, as seniors Coen Hinrichs and Andrew Girdeen have both threatened top 10 finishes as well.

As the weather improves, Huppert wants to see the Panthers continue to clean up the short game with the improved conditions on the green.

When Prescott made State a year ago, all five competitors were seniors, meaning the Cardinals would be building from the ground up in 2026. While the team has not pieced the top performances together into one breakout day through three events, there have been some positive signs.

Junior Shia Parmeter tied for 10th in the Hammond meet and led the team with a 22nd place finish in the opener. Junior Miles Malm, who perhaps has the most varsity experience of the bunch, led the way with a 22nd place finish of his own in the most recent meet.

The key for Prescott moving forward will be improving the low-end scores from the fourth and fifth golfers in the lineup. The top three, for the most part, have hung out around the middle of the individual standings, so if the two remaining golfers can cut some strokes off their scores, Prescott could begin to climb the table.