The Prescott Cardinals took second place in the regional tournament in Baldwin on Wednesday and advanced to the sectional round of play as a team.

The Cardinals advanced as a unit by the slimmest of margins, putting up a team score of 331. In third place was Baldwin-Woodville who finished with a 332 on their home course.

This was really the only competition the whole day as Amery ran away with it, winning by 15 strokes. Meanwhile, the next closest team behind the Blackhawks was Osceola who finished 10 strokes back.

Shooting from the number one spot, Tyler Reiter carried the day for Prescott finishing one over par. His round was steady, if not exactly what you might expect. While he birdied both the front nine’s par fives, he also bogeyed both par threes.

The back nine was also a bit unusual. Reiter began it with back-to-back birdies on hole 10’s par four and 11’s par five, but he finished by bogeying three of the final six holes to finish +1 on the day, good for second place overall.

Sam Vesperman, Prescott’s number two golfer, and Luke Kinneman, Prescott’s number three, also had nice rounds, finishing with an 80 and an 83. These two actually had more in common on the day than similar scores. Much like Reiter, they both had fantastic front nine’s finishing +1 and even respectively, but took on a lot of extra strokes on the back portion of the course.

The Cardinals’ number four and number five golfers, Harris Linderholm and Cayden Johnson, both finished with near identical scores as well, shooting a 95 and a 97 to finish out what amounts to a victory for the red birds.

Coming up next for Prescott, they will look to advance to the state tournament as a team when they travel to Turtleback Golf and Country Club in Rice Lake to play 18 holes on Tuesday. This event has a 9 a.m. tee time.

Ellsworth

The Ellsworth Panthers finished eighth in the regional round of play in Baldwin on Wednesday with a team score of 360.

While the Panthers came up short of advancing to the sectional round of play as a team, they will be sending on their top golfer for a chance at advancing to the state tournament as an individual player.

Trey Wittenberg played a nice round, finishing with a 76 on the day and taking sixth overall, and as the Panthers’ only top finisher, he will advance to the sectional round of play as a solo competitor.

Like many of the golfers at the tournament, he played especially well on the front half of the course, playing to a par finish after the first nine holes. However, it was the back that perpetually gave the guys fits on the day, and Wittenberg’s four bogeys are proof of that as well.

The Panthers’ number four golfer, Rowan Nelson, actually had the second best score on the team. He finished with an 89, good for a borderline top 20 finish. Number three Cooper Olson came in third with a 95, and Thomas Tober and Logan Peterson rounded out the scoring on the day, shooting 100 and a 102 respectively.

Even though Wittenberg will be the only one moving on, the rest of the team will send their support when he travels to Turtleback Golf and Country Club in Rice Lake on Tuesday. The sectional begins at 9 a.m.

River Falls

The River Falls Wildcats finished third in the regional round of postseason play in New Richmond on Thursday and will advance to the sectional round on Thursday.

The Wildcats finished just two strokes out of second with a team score of 316, a round that featured multiple Wildcat golfers finishing in the top six on the day.

River Falls’ number two shooter Will Benedict continued his strong season of play, finishing first on the team and second overall out of 40 golfers. Benedict’s round began a little unevenly, taking on four strokes after just five holes of play. Hole five was especially vexing as he finished with a seven on the par four.

After that though, he settled in and started draining putts. Hole six was a par five, and he birdied it. So was hole nine, and he birdied that as well, finishing just +2 on the first nine after what looked at first to be the makings to be one of his worst rounds of play. He stayed in the groove on the back portion, finishing with three birdies and two bogeys to lower his score to just +1 on the day and taking second place overall.

The Wildcats’ number one golfer Ryan Swanson also had a nice round. Like Benedict, he too struggled out of the gate in New Richmond, finishing +3 after the first nine holes of play. The back was much cleaner for Swanson, who started out with a birdie and finished just +1 on this portion of the course for an overall score of 76, good for sixth place.

Number three shooter Connor O’Malley and number five Daniel Linn rounded out the scoring rounds for River Falls, shooting nearly identical rounds with an 83 and 84 respectively and taking home 17^th and 20^th place.

Head Coach Tim LaVold says he was happy with how the guys played.

“The goal is to advance to the Sectionals, and we did that as a team,” LaVold said. “At Sectionals, we all have to play our best golf. We can do this, and if we do, we have a chance to advance to state.”

 The sectional meet is at Troy Burne Tuesday morning, a course that the Wildcats know well. They just have one more round to play before reaching the highest level of high school play. 

Spring Valley

The Spring Valley Cardinals took ninth in the regional tournament in Baldwin on Wednesday with a team score of 445.

It was a tough day for the Cardinal golfers who took last in the tournament, but it was a productive season overall for Spring Valley’s program.

Spring Valley’s number two golfer Mara Ducklow led the team in scoring, shooting a 98 on the day. It would be very interesting to see what Ducklow could do if she were playing with the girls in the fall from their tee boxes, but with Spring Valley’s numbers, that wasn’t an option for her.

Still, she was the only Cardinal to finish under 100, and she played characteristically steady golf throughout the round. Her biggest skill is what golfers strive for and that is her consistency. She almost never puts up a big number, constantly finishing within a stroke or two of even on each hole and sometimes chipping in that occasional par.

The Cardinals’ number one golfer Sam Steinmeyer shot a 106 on the day. Max Wittmer finished third with a 116, and Jordan Lamb rounded out the scoring on the day for the Cardinals with a 125.

Spring Valley’s program is steadily improving, but it is still handicapped by its size. The goal for the staff is to get more young kids out early and often, and they work towards those goals each offseason. The Cardinals’ season may be over, but they will be back on the links next spring looking to build on this year’s successes.