State berth means goals reached for Raiders golfer

Northfield junior Devyn Gardner headed into the Class 3A girls' golf state tournament looking to improve on her 36th-place finish of last year.

The final round of the two-day event will be played today at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids. Here is a closer look at Gardner:

Best movie I've seen in the past year: "Harry Potter 7: Part I."

Three songs I never skip on my iPod are ... "Bang Bang" by K'naan featuring Adam Levine; "This Love" by Maroon 5; "Uprising" by Muse.

Three words or phrases my friends or teammates might use to describe me? Determined; leader; fun.

How do you balance school and sports during the year? I take both school and golf pretty seriously, so balancing them can be pretty tough. On most bus rides to meets I am working on homework, and my teammates all make fun of me for being the nerd and always having my calculator, but I don't mind. It's what I have to do to keep up in school.

How did you get started playing golf? When I was in sixth grade my parents got me a starter set of clubs, and I would just drive the golf cart around and putt with them. I joined the team in seventh grade and I fell in love with it and began to golf almost every day in the summers.

What is your favorite meal prior to a meet? Well, I don't think this counts as a meal but I have some trail mix and orange Gatorade before almost every meet.

What is your most memorable moment as a high school athlete? My most memorable moment was shooting a 77 at Mississippi National Golf Course in Red Wing at their invite this year. It was a very hot day and at that point in my season it was my best round, so it was a really great feeling of accomplishment that I have not forgotten.

Who is your school's biggest rival, and why? Both Red Wing and New Prague are big rivals because they are both great teams in our conference and have strong teams and individuals every year.

What did you work on in the offseason? I worked on both long and short game. I spend much more time chipping and putting and really tightening up my shots close to the green during my offseason.

What was your goal coming into the season? One of my goals was to make it back to state with my team, which I have, but my main goal is to place in the top 20 individuals in the Class 3A state tournament.