GOLF: No title this time for Portage

By Kevin Morales

SPRING GREEN — One hole at a time.

That's been the rallying cry for Portage's golf team throughout the season and it certainly was the case Wednesday at the Badger Conference Tournament at The House on the Rock Resort.

After a lackluster first nine, the Warriors rebounded to shoot a 339 and finish fourth at Badger North Conference Meet, and third overall in the final Badger North Conference standings.

Lee Swan led the way by shooting a 6-over par 78 while Mitch Seubert finished with a round of 78.

"It was good and bad," said Swan, who finishes the season fourth on the all-conference list. "I think we all struggled on the front nine, didn't play very well, but we all battled back and grinded out strokes on the back nine."

Reedsburg's Ellie Arkin shot an even-par 72 to win the Tournament and lead the Beavers to their first Badger North Conference golf title.

Oregon's Jeff Lund posted a Badger South-best 73 while Madison Edgewood walked off as Badger South champions.

"We know that we're a better team than shooting 339 but even on days when you don't play your best you've got to give it all you can," said Swan.

Portage did that on Wednesday.

Three of the five Warriors golfers cut their scores on the back nine to give Portage a fighting chance.

Portage needed a big team performance to catch Reedsburg and Waunakee, each of which entered the tournament ahead of Portage in the Conference standings.

Swan shot a 39 over the front nine and was in line to hit par on the back until a triple bogey on the 18th hole.

Seubert shot a team-best 38 on the front nine before shooting a 41 on the back.

Travis Seubert rebounded from a 48 on the front nine to shoot 39 on the way out.

Kory Heaps finished with a 95 while Brian Hart shot 97.

"Obviously the overall score, we'd like to improve on that," Portage coach Ed Carlson said. "I think the thing that we're going to build on is that we had a lot of solid gut checks out there. When things are going back you can go two different directions and I thought we had some performances out here where we really battled. That shows a lot of mental fortitude. In the state tournament that's what it takes."

One of those gut checks came on the 15th hole for Swan. Swan's drive sliced wide of the green and his ball landed behind a tree approximately 30 yards from the hole. Swan recovered by jetting out of rough and onto the onto the green in one shot before earning par on the hole.

The Warriors finish third in the conference after winning it one year ago. While Portage was looking to finish higher in the standings, a third-place finish is impressive for a team that lost its first two conference duals and lost three golfers from last season's championship team.

Still, the Warriors' golfers felt they could've performed better.

"I thought we could've done a lot better than third," Mitch Seubert said.

"We know we've got good character and good team chemistry," Swan said. "We've got enough talent that we knew we could finish pretty high. It wasn't so much the 0-2 start that set us back, we still had our chance."

Arkin becomes the first Conference golfer since Portage's Craig Cerbins to take the Badger North's first-All-Conference spot for three straight seasons.

The Warriors return to action for a WIAA Division 2 regionals Tuesday at Horicon.

The Warriors agreed their approach won't change for the WIAA postseason, as it hasn't throughout the season.

"I know we're all looking forward to regionals and sectionals, hopefully," Swan said. "Just keep plugging away. One hole at a time."

BADGER CONFERENCE GOLF TOURNAMENT

House on the Rock Resort, par 72

BADGER NORTH TEAM SCORES — Reedsburg 314, Waunakee 330, Baraboo 336, Portage 339, Deforest 342, Mount Horeb 349, Sauk Prairie 350

BADGER NORTH INDIVIDUAL LEADERS — Arkin (R) 72, Flint (R) 73, Gorman (W) 74, Siebert (B) 77, Jones (D) 78, Swan (P) 78, M. Seubert (P) 79, Braska (W) 80, Schwarz (SP) 84, Dietzman (B) 84.

BADGER NORTH INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: BARABOO — Siebert 77, Kaminski 81, Dietzman 84, Petty 94, Taylor 97. DEFOREST — Smith 82, Salzmann 86, Waldschmidt 86, Bartlett 88, Sands 98. MOUNT HOREB — Jones 78, Krentz 88, Roberts 90, Meyer 93, Affeldt 100. PORTAGE — Swan 78, M. Seubert 79, T. Seubert 87, Heaps 95, Hart 95. REEDSBURG — Arkin 72, Flint 73, Walter 84, Even 85, Schoell 93. SAUK PRAIRIE — Schwarz 84, Starr 87, Schroeder 89, Lang 90, Breunig 93. WAUNAKEE — Gorman 74, Braska 80, Liddicoat 86, Liegel 90, Schmidt 94.

BADGER SOUTH TEAM SCORES — Madison Edgewood 314, McFarland 323, Oregon 323, Monroe 327, Stoughton 328, Verona 332, Monona Grove 337.

BADGER SOUTH INDIVIDUAL LEADERS — Lund (O) 73, Strang (ME) 74, Murphy (ME) 75, Nelson (S) 77, Lewis (V) 78, Reinecke (V) 79, Klement (MF) 79, Dixon (MF) 80, Fergus (S) 80, Sweeney (ME) 81, Petit (M) 81, Brady (O) 81.

BADGER SOUTH INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: MADISON EDGEWOOD — Strang 74, Murphy 75, Sweeney 81, Porchetta 84, Hird 85. MCFARLAND — Klement 79, Dixon 80, Krantz 81, Buechel 83, Macke 85. MONONA GROVE — Everson 82, Marks 84, Douglas 85,Winistrorfer 86, Diley 89. MONROE — Petit 81, Krattiger 81, Wilson 82, McArdle 83, Holmes 89. OREGON — Lund 73, Brady 81, Amend 83, Sundell 86, King 88. STOUGHTON — Nelson 77, Fergus 80, Howell 83, Truehl 88, Zehner 93. VERONA — Lewis 78, Reinecke 79, Feller 82, Zobel 93.

kmorales@capitalnewspapers.com

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