Arcadia wins West Salem golf meet

Arcadia and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau have proven themselves to be firmly in the top three golf teams in the Coulee Conference this season through two competitions.

The latest proof came at a meet in West Salem at the par-35 Fox Hollow Golf Course last Tuesday, a meet that saw Arcadia win with a 168 and had five golfers—including Cole Sobotta finishing with the low score—in the top 10. 

The Red Hawks weren’t far behind, playing to a third place finish at 182 behind Black River Falls at 174. Luther took fourth at 204, followed by Viroqua/Westby at 191 and West Salem at 222.

Both teams were set to golf Monday in Viroqua before G-E-T hosts a conference meet at Ettrick Golf Course. They close the week with an invitational at River Run Golf Course in Sparta on Saturday.

Sobotta finished with two bogeys and one birdie to lead him to a one-over-par finish last Tuesday. His game was near perfect, coach Mitch Sobotta said, who also applauded his improvement from last year with the help of some growth and filling out with conditioning and strength.

“From last year to this year, his ball striking and just the sound of his contact on the ball, just everything from there on out. It’s just phenomenal. It’s almost like a totally different person,” coach Sobotta said.

On hole seven Cole Sobotta pushed his tee shot over a hill and took a penalty stroke. He responded with a perfect chip shot to reach the green and two putt to save bogey before finishing with a par on the final two holes.

All six of Arcadia’s golfers shot under a 50, and Joey Theis (42, third) and Sid Halvorsen (44, eighth) also finished inside the top 10. The Raiders’ team score was rounded out by a pair of 46s from Caleb Pronschinske and Simon Haines to tie for tenth. Dustin Klonecki shot a 48.

The team played smart golf, Sobotta said, and that should help them if they keep that going. If the bottom few golfers can consistently play bogey golf, he said, they could be a dark horse in every competition.

“I think this year is going to be our sleeper year, but I think we kind of got the cat out of the bag a little sooner than what I wanted,” he said through a laugh regarding the win.

The Red Hawks also had a good day, as the Red Hawks’ Christopher Wagner and Caleb Lightfoot tied for sixth at 43. Lance Jumbeck finished tied for 10th at 46, and G-E-T also had Boden Bratberg at 50 and Ethan Burmeister at 54. Nic Jumper rounded out the scores at 59.

G-E-T coach Rick Schmidt called his team “steady” so far this season, adding that they do a good job of staying together and not having too many highs or lows.

“Our team is going to be pretty close to each other in terms of scores,” he said. “We don’t have anybody that’s gonna be a consistent in the upper 30s, but we still have everybody that if they have a good day could be there.”

Schmidt said his team can stay in the top three in conference play if they focus on their game and don’t get distracted by what is happening around them. Competition at the bottom of his lineup has helped, Schmidt said, and some better weather helped them last week. 

“I feel we’re one of the top three teams with Arcadia and Black River Falls,” he said. “Our focus is to try to just get to that point where we can be consistent.”