Going into the sunny afternoon of the second day of the 3A Golf State Championship at Qualchan Golf course in Spokane from May 20 to 21, the MI Boys Varsity Golf team played with an air of fierce determination. Their biggest rival, Bellevue High School, was leading by eight strokes and poised to take the state championship.

By the end of day, however, MI overcame Bellevue to narrowly win the state title, with a final score of 605 strokes to Bellevue’s 607 strokes. Team MI consisted of junior Alex Harwood (tied for 6th), senior Jack Besecker (tied for eighth), sophomore Lucas Kornylo (26th), junior Yijoon Seo (41st), senior Ryan Jacobson (tied for 50th) and alternate freshman Preston Yee.

“I thought we had a really good chance to win, but I wasn’t entirely sure of it, especially after the first day when we were eight shots back,” Harwood said. “But I knew as a team we had it prepared, and I knew we could win if we just played good on the last day.”

The team was not discouraged, going into the second day with fierce determination and a positive attitude.

“I think we had to track [Bellevue] down. We had to play some good golf, and we had to be together as a team and just be focused and just not get down since we were behind, but just try and come back,” Harwood said.

Overall, MI took home a stunning victory, marking the third time the boys have won the state championship.

“We didn’t play our best on the first day, but to have such a good comeback is really amazing,” Harwood said. “It always feels good having a good second day, coming back and closing out the win.”