Bella McCauley is feeling “really good” on the course right now, and it’s showing in the results. A week after placing third in the Boilermaker Classic, the Gophers junior finished in a tie for fourth at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate after carding a final-round 71 Wednesday at The Royal Club in Lake Elmo.

“It’s really a day-to-day basis, though. It just comes and goes. Some days it’ll feel really good, and some days it won’t,” said McCauley, who was 5-under-par for the tourney after rounds of 67, 73 and 71. “So, honestly, I’m just playing it on a day-to-day basis, but I’ve been really happy with the past two weeks. It’s been a lot of fun golf and it’s been a great team dynamic this year.”

Gophers junior Isabella McCauley takes a practice swing before hitting a chip on No. 9 — her final hole of the third round of the ANNIKA Intercollegiate on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024 at The Royal Club in Lake Elmo. McCauley finished the tournament at 5-under par, good for a tie for fourth overall. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)

Part of that team dynamic is a sibling reunion. Bella’s sister, Reese, is a freshman with the Gophers. The Simley siblings are back together and helping drive team success.

Reese shot three straight rounds of 74 to finish at 6-over and in a tie for 34th at the ANNIKA, one of the most difficult fields in women’s college golf. She’s adjusting to college golf, the balance of academics and athletics and the additional travel.

“I think having both is a little bit more of a challenge,” she said. “But it hasn’t been going too bad so far. Ask me again in three weeks.”

The Gophers were 13-over par in the three-round tourney, putting them in a tie for ninth with Clemson. For reference, Clemson was one of eight teams to reach the match-play portion of the NCAA Championships in the spring.

Minnesota went shot for shot with many of the country’s top teams. It finished just six strokes back of UCLA, last season’s national runner-up. It was eight shots better than Purdue, who reached the NCAA Championships last season.

South Carolina ran away with the team title with a score of 31-under par — 27 shots better than second-place Oregon. The Gamecocks sported the tournament’s top two finishers in Hannah Darling (14 under) and Louise Rydqvist (13 under).

The Gophers appear to be entering a higher tier of teams.

“It’s so fun. I think that was a huge reason I really wanted to even come to Minnesota in the first place is I knew that we were going to be trending, and I really wanted to be a part of it,” Bella said. “There’s so many good programs out there, but I know Minnesota is just getting started and is going to be really amazing and up there with all of them, so I’m excited to be on the team that’s starting the trend. So we’re excited.”

Minnesota received a strong injection of talent this season, with Reese coming in as a freshman and Mariana Mesones — who finished in a tie for 16th at 1-over for the tournament — returning after a year away from the program. Bella said the “sky is the limit” for the Gophers.

“I’m just really excited,” Reese said. “I feel like being able to do it with my sister and stuff, too, it’s super exciting and definitely an honor to be a part of it and contribute to our team kind of going up.”

Bella is starting the season on a high note. This week marked her best performance in three tries at the ANNIKA.

“Being able to come here and play well — and obviously play at our home event with all my family watching, that was just so special,” Bella said. “The last couple years I wouldn’t even say have been that bad, but definitely not the top finish we wanted, so it was really cool to come out here and be able to pull that one out.”

“She has been playing amazing,” Reese said.

A jury on Tuesday found a 63-year-old former Eagan pastor guilty of committing fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in 2021 involving a college-age parishioner.

Bruce Douglas Konold (Courtesy of Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Bruce Douglas Konold was the lead pastor at Eagan Hills Church for 25 years until he resigned in February 2022, shortly after his then-wife learned of his sexual relations with the woman.

Dakota County jurors were hung on a third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge against Konold, and acquitted him of two other charges involving a second parishioner — one count each of third- and fourth-degree sexual conduct. They deliberated for part of all of four days before reaching the verdict.

Minnesota law says it’s a felony for members of the clergy to have a sexual relationship with a person they are counseling or to whom they are providing spiritual advice.

Konold’s attorney, Kevin DeVore, said Wednesday the prosecution had to prove that he was meeting with the women on an ongoing basis to give them religious or spiritual comfort, aid or advice in private.

“We argued that wasn’t happening, there were no private meetings to do that kind of stuff,” he said. “And we thought we presented enough for a jury to find him not guilty on all the counts.”

Prosecutors originally charged Konold in August 2022 by warrant with six counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, six counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of harassment. They dismissed all but the four charges in April.

Konold was taken into custody after the verdict. He had been out on a $100,000 bond since Sept. 13, 2022, 11 days after he was booked into jail on the charges.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 22. Minnesota sentencing guidelines call for a presumptive stayed three-year prison sentence and up to 364 days in jail, DeVore said.

He said it was adultery

According to the criminal complaint, a 20-year-old woman told police in March 2022 that Konold fondled her at his home in 2021 and it led to numerous sexual encounters, which occurred at his home, the church, hotels and in his vehicle.

She said she began attending the church in January 2021. She said the next month Konold told her she needed a father figure and began providing her with spiritual counseling and guidance on a regular basis.

During a break from college, she said Konold suggested that she stay at his home. One day, Konold gave her several alcoholic drinks — she was not of legal age to drink — and she felt foggy and had difficulty walking. She said he then touched her genitals above her clothing and tried to remove her clothes several times before she pushed him away.

Konold began sending the woman sexual messages regularly and suggested she move into his home at the end of her school year. He got her a cleaning job at the church.

Sexual acts began in May 2021, she said, and continued until the end of the year. She described to police how she had “conflicting emotions about the incidents, explaining that there were certain incidents that didn’t feel consensual,” the complaint read.

She said Konold’s wife approached her in December 2021 and told her “to never show her face again at the church and to disappear completely,” according to the complaint.

Police in March 2022 also spoke with a 30-year-old woman who said she and her husband attended Konold’s church for about 10 years and that in 2020 he offered her a personal assistant job at the church.

She said Konold first fondled her at his home in June 2020 and she agreed to have sex with him at a hotel the following November after he promised to leave her alone afterward. She said it later led to numerous sexual encounters, which occurred at his home, her home, a hotel and in his vehicle in places near the church and Lebanon Hills Regional Park.

The complaint alleged that during the time of the sexual acts, which continued until January 2021, the woman continued to regularly meet with Konold for one-on-one spiritual counseling and guidance.

In a March 2022 interview with police, Konold said he had sexual relations with the woman about 15 times. He expressed concerns about the church supporting her mission work, saying that “it was not right that they continue to support an adulteress,” the complaint read. He “quoted a Bible verse regarding adulterous women being ‘stoned.’ ”

Konold described his relationship with the 20-year-old woman as “another adulterous relationship,” the complaint said.

Konold did not directly answer the question from an investigator of whether he considered her as someone seeking spiritual counseling, but said she thought of him as a father figure and “explained that his conversations are spiritual given that he is considered one of the foremost experts in world religions,” according to the complaint.

Konold and his wife divorced in October 2022, according to court records.

Eagan Hills Church, located at 700 Diffley Road, is affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical Christian denomination.

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Ryder Ritchie is beginning his quest for an NHL job this week, joining the Wild’s prospects for three days of practices leading to this weekend’s fourth annual Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase in St. Louis.

Minnesota’s second-round pick in June’s amateur draft just turned 18 on Aug. 3 and is a reedy 6-foot-1, 175 pounds. Traded to Medicine Hat of the WHL, he’s expected in Alberta this fall, where he joins a team stacked with NHL prospects expected to make a run at winning the major juniors’ heaviest league.

But Ritchie isn’t intimidated by the company he has this week at TRIA Rink in downtown St. Paul, where he was reunited with a few dozen of the Wild’s best prospects two months after his first NHL development camp.

“I feel comfortable here, I feel confident,” he said after a Wednesday morning practice. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The son of former NHL wing Byron Ritchie, Ryder missed nearly two months of his second season with Prince George with a lower-body injury last winter but still finished with 19 goals and 25 assists in 47 games. In May, he scored four goals and eight points for Canada at the IIHF junior world championships.

The Wild used the 45th overall pick on Ritchie on June 29, and with first-round pick Zeev Buium headed back to the University of Denver this fall, he’s the highest 2024 pick in camp.

Playing in the WHL, he said, has prepared him for his next step.

“You’re used to getting hit, you’re used to playing against big, strong guys,” Ritchie said. “I mean, I was 16 at the time playing against a lot of 20-year-olds, so that was kind of part of it. But I think it helps coming up here, because I’m playing against some 25-year-olds. That part of it helps.”

Barring an injury, there isn’t a sure-fire opening for a prospect on the Wild’s NHL roster this fall, maybe a third-line forward job. Training camp begins next Thursday, and Riley Heidt and Hunter Haight — former third-round draft picks coming off of monster CHL seasons — are the likeliest candidates already in St. Paul this week.

The group will practice again Thursday and Friday before flying Saturday morning to St. Louis, where they will play against prospects the Chicago Blackhawks at 6 p.m. Saturday, then the Blues prospects at 3 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s going to be cool playing for the Minnesota Wild, per se, putting on that jersey with all the other prospects,” he said. “It’s a moment I’m really looking forward to, and I can’t wait to showcase myself and compete out there.”

Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase

At Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo. All practice sessions and games will be free and open to the public.

Friday: Blues prospects practice, 10:30 a.m.; Blackhawks prospects practice, 11:30 a.m.; Blues vs. Blackhawks, 7 p.m.

Saturday: Blues prospects practice, 10:30 a.m.; Blackhawks prospects practice, 11:30 a.m.*; Blackhawks vs. Wild, 6 p.m.

Sunday: Wild prospects practice, 8:30 a.m.; Blues prospects practice, 9:30 a.m.; Blues vs. Wild, 3 p.m.