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BEMIDJI – North Dakota State men’s golfers have made a habit out of performing at a high level at the Birchmont Golf Tournament. The 100th edition of the tournament is no exception.

Four Bison are still alive in the Men’s Division as match play enters into the quarterfinal round on Friday.

Nate Deziel, the No. 5 seed, handled Ryan Engel 5-and-4. He will take on No. 29 Alex Barrett out of Red Lake, who knocked off Toby Palmiscno 1-up. Ian Simonich – the medalist – stayed hot with a 4-and-3 win over Jack Southard.

Two Bison are squaring off in Friday’s quarterfinal. Josh Galvin beat teammate Jakub Skarperud 2-and-1 as the No. 14 seed. He will play against sixth-seeded Rylin Petry out of NDSU, who beat Max Wilson 5-and-4.

But standing at the top of the bracket is reigning champion Nick Schaefer, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. He pulled out a 2-up win over Landon Miller to advance, setting up a match against eighth-seeded Matthew Gregg out of Bemidji. Gregg beat James Foss 1-up. Lucas Feterl also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 1-up win over Nate Adams.

With six holes to play, 16th-seeded Ekren Miller was facing a two-hole deficit to keep his Executive Division title hopes alive.

Then he won three of his last five holes.

Miller moved on to the semifinals with a 1-up win over Paul Gustafson. He will play against Omar Daal, who beat Nick Bergan 2-up as the fifth-seeded player.

Troy Johnson and Mark Ewing also advanced. No 2 Johnson rolled to an 8-6 win over 10th-seeded Derek Hasselberg, and third-seeded Ewing beat No. 6 Joe McKean 3-and-2.

Two former Birchmont Women’s Division champions are still in the running to win the 100th after Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Defending champion Morgan Hetletved knocked off 2022 winner Abbie Kelm 3-and-1. Tied after 14 holes, Hetletved won the final three to advance. She will take on fourth-seeded Emersyn Walker, who picked up a 2-and-1 win over No. 5 Anna Tollette. Trailing by four, Tollette charged to win holes 14, 15 and 16 to close the gap. But Walker’s bogey on the 17th hole was enough to pull out a win.

Emily Israelson survived a playoff against No. 7 Emily Crothers. Second-seeded Israelson took a one-hole lead with a par on No. 17 before Corthers’ birdie on the final hole forced a playoff. Israelson advanced in 20 holes and will play against sixth-seeded Ava Olson, who beat third-seeded Lily Bredemeier 3-and-1.

Curt Howard was the latest defending champion to be eliminated from contention on Thursday.

Eighth-seeded Bob Bye edged out Howard with a 1-up win to advance to Friday’s semifinal. No. 5 Trent Wilcox will take on Bye in the semifinals after his 2-and-1 win over Scott Hinners.

Dale Finck continued his hot stretch as the medalist and No. 2 seed. After handling Chad Brune 4-and-3 on Wednesday, Finck rolled to an 8-and-6 win over Jeff Noren on Thursday. He will play against sixth-seeded Brad Anderson, who beat No. 3 Mark Lindberg 4-and-2 on Thursday.

Wednesday guaranteed there wouldn’t be a repeat champion in the Masters Division, and Thursday guaranteed that one of the bottom three seeds will play in the finals.

No. 15 Taylor Douglas beat seventh-seeded Bruce Pederson 4-and-3 to advance to the semifinals. He will play against 14th-seeded Jack Seiberlich, who pulled out a 1-up victory over No. 11 Jeff Hendrickson.

The winner will get whoever comes out of the other semifinal match between Bill Thoreson and Rick Vanyo. Eighth-seeded Thoreson notched a 4-and-3 win over No. 16 Michael Sansom. No. 5 Vanyo knocked off Jeff Nelson 2-and-1.

Two Junior 17U players ran away with their respective semifinal matches on Thursday morning.

Kolby Koerner out of Grand Forks, N.D., handled top-seeded Gavin Rude 4-and-2 to advance to championship Saturday. Third-seeded Preston Miller also cruised, beating No. 7 Kale Hins 5-and-3.

Jackson Fogelson has accomplished a lot in his youth golf career, and a Birchmont championship could be next.

The top-seeded Junior 12U Division player beat Tanner Lund 5-and-4 and Beckett Prelvitz 4-and-3 to clinch a spot in the championship match. He will play against Graham Urbanaik, who pulled out a 1-up win over Owen Grand.

• Monday: Qualifying rounds for the Men’s, Senior, Executive and Junior Divisions.
• Tuesday: Qualifying rounds for the Women’s and Masters Divisions; second round of qualifying for Men’s, Senior and Executive divisions; match play begins for Junior 10-12 division.
• Wednesday: Match play begins for all championship divisions. (Men’s letter flights, Executive Regular and Junior 10-12 divisions do not play.)
• Thursday: Match play continues for all championship divisions. (Senior Regular, Masters Regular and Junior flights do not play.)
• Friday: Match play continues for all divisions. (Women’s Regular flights do not play.)
• Saturday: Match play finals for all divisions.