County prep girls golfers end season at PDC sectional
The WIAA girls golf season is officially over for Trempealeau County teams following an exit from a Division Two sectional tournament in Prairie du Chien last week.
And though both Arcadia and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau were upset that the 2022 run closed at last Monday’s event at the par-72 Prairie du Chien Country Club, both teams’ coaches say it marked the ending to a prideful season.
Lancaster claimed the top spot with a 381 and advances to the state tournament this week alongside Edgewood Sacred Heart (396). Individual qualifiers included Portage’s Ella Denure and Jefferson’s Payton Schmidt—both with an 82—as well as Westby/Viroqua freshman Maddi Fletcher.
The lowest score came from Lancaster’s Brianna Kirsch, who shot a six-over par 78.
“I think overall I was happy with the finish. It’d be nice to get somebody through, but that’s golf,” Arcadia coach Mike Sobotta told the Times, adding that the sectional boasted strong talent.
Arcadia finished sixth at the tournament with a 411, beaten by the top teams as well as Aquinas (397), Jefferson (402) and Lakeside Lutheran (411).
East Troy scored a 421, and coach Scott Hovell’s G-E-T team took eighth (439) to round out the team scores. Hovell said he thought the girls played okay, especially considering the tough back nine at Prairie du Chien.
“Not that we settled or anything, but we were excited to be there. We didn’t necessarily feel like we had a year where we were gonna make it to sectionals, and we were able to do that. And I was super proud of the girls,” Hovell said.
Senior Whitney Sonsalla came close to representing Arcadia at the state tournament, missing the individual cut by a pair of strokes.
Her 86 led all county golfers last week in a round that Sobotta said the senior should be proud of despite not advancing. If somebody had told him prior to the event that an 86 would not be enough to advance, he said he would have bet that person $100 she’d be in.
Whitney was “right there”, Sobotta said, and the scores back up the statement—the senior didn’t enter anything higher than a bogey on her scorecard all day,
“We can only control what we can control, and that’s about all. I thought Whitney played very well on the back side,” he said.
The Red Hawks were paced by junior Alexis Murphy, whose 97 was enough to tie for 13th on Monday. Murphy struggled on the first few holes before turning to simple drills and a chat with Hovell to pivot her round. She found her game in fine form after that, scoring the ninth-best on the back nine.
“She played really well then in the back half,” Hovell said.
Hovell said losing seniors Caydence Kokott (104) and Maggie Bistodeau (105) will create a tough task next year, so he hopes returners Anna Motszko (133) and Chloe Applin (136) will continue to grow. The 2022 season was full of growth, he thinks.
“That’s really all you can ask for is that they put in time and they work hard and get better. And they definitely did that.”
Arcadia, which got rounds of 100 from Ithzel Cossio, 104 from Ahnna Bautch and 121 from Kylie Mullikin, is currently slated not to have girls golf in the immediate future due to an empty roster behind this year’s four seniors and no middle school golfers currently.
Sobotta hopes that more girls will take up golf, but if this year’s trip to the sectional — along with a Coulee Conference title — is followed by a break for Arcadia girls golf for awhile, he is proud of the ending for his group.
“I thought overall it was a very nice season. It really was. We only had four kids, but overall I was very happy.”
