Fantastic fourth

Brady Ambrose
Times-Press

MADISON—Reedsburg golf coach Mark Johnson couldn't have asked for much more from his team.

Sitting in sixth place after the first day of the state division 1 boys golf meet, all the Beavers did was shoot a 307, the second best day-two round of any of the 16 teams in division 1, and finished the state meet securely in fourth place, a huge accomplishment for the program.

Led not only by Ellie Arkin and Patrick Flint, the Beavers second day score was bested only by identical 298's from state champion Arrowhead and Madison Memorial, sending the Beavers up the chart from sixth to fourth place.

Junior Adam Walter, who on the first day carded an 83, trimmed six shots from his score and finished the day with a 77 while Michael Even shot a 76, one shot better than his day one score. Arkin, who on Monday had shot a 75, started Tuesday with a seven-over-par 43, but rebounded on the back nine with a 33, the best score of the day by any golfer in division 1 except for Madison West's Mike Battista, who matched Arkin's score on the front nine, and eventually won the division 1 title with a two day total of 140, edging Eau Claire Memorial senior Brady Keegan by two strokes.

RAHS coach mark Johnson said, "Going into state, when we looked at the teams we knew we could compete. Our goal was to shoot 310 both days and we did, but Memorial was just outstanding. We were only nine shots back Monday, and if we could have shot a 300 and had a couple teams blow up, we're right in it, but still to finish fourth against all those big schools is really impressive."

Arkin birdied four holes on the back nine, including a 25 footer on the 18th to finish the tournament. "I thought I left it on the low side," said Arkin, who tied for 14th at 151. "So when it dropped in like that, it felt great and my heart was pounding a little bit."

The second day total of 307 tied the Reedsburg record for the lowest score of the year, which the Beavers shot on their home course in the regionals in late last month. Johnson added that the crowd — and media were equally surprised by the Beavers, saying that people in the crowd were looking at the board and saying they they really didn't think of Reedsburg as a golf town. "They were saying Reedsburg shot a 310 — who's this?" All four Reedsburg golfers shot in the 70's Tuesday, another first for the team this season. Arkin and Michael Even each finished with a 76, Adam Walter added a 77 and Patrick Flint a 78. "Adam and Michael were so good Tuesday," added the coach. "With three holes left they were both two over, and Ellie really responded after the 43. Patrick's 78, I felt bad because he just couldn't get anything going all day."

The loss of Arkin and Flint, along with Corey Pieper will no doubt have an affect on next year's team, but the Beavers will return plenty of talent as Walter, Even and Dave Schoell will all return. "After this — I hope it's not another 12 years until we get back to state again," said Johnson.

It probably won't be.

Team scores

Hartland Arrowhead 301-298—599, Madison Memorial 305-298—603, Eau Claire Memorial 304-308—612, Reedsburg 310-307—617, Appleton East 301-322—623, Fond du Lac 302-331—633, 315-318—633, Brookfield East 315-318—633, Westosha Central 321-320—641, Mequon Homestead 324-317—641, Whitefish Bay 325-321—646, Lake Geneva Badger 322-327—649, Ashwaubenon 324-329—653, Kenosha Bradford 323-335—658, Chippewa Falls 330-330—660, Beloit Memorial 339-332—671, Neenah 339-335—674.

Top individuals: 1, Battista, Madison West, 70-70—140; 2, tie, Keegan, Eau Claire Memorial, 71-71—142; Frank, Kettle Moraine, 70-72—142; 4, Groose, Brookfield Central, 71-73—144; 5, Moe, Madison Memorial, 73-73—146.

State team qualifiers

(Top four scores each day count in team score) Hartland Arrowhead — Sorenson 74-75—149, Lammert 77-73—150, S. Weber 78-74—152, N. Weber 76-76—152, Jones 74-81—155. Madison Memorial — Moe 73-73—146, McCormick 78-71—149, Lange 76-77—153, An 78-78—156, Regan 80-77—157. Eau Claire Memorial — Keegan 71-71—142, Rucker 75-77—152, Walter 73-83—156, Mahler 85-77—162, Mundt/Paulson 88-83—171. Reedsburg — Arkin 75-76—151, Flint 75-78—153, Even 77-76—153, Walter 83-77—160, Schoell/Pieper 86-87—173. Appleton East — Anderson 69-81—150, Mayer 77-79—156, Bell 77-79—156, Coenen 78-83—161, Marotz 83-87—170. Fond du Lac — McGrath 73-82—155, Bertram74-86—160, Gross 76-84—160, Stacey 79-82—161. Brookfield East — Henning 79-79—158, Herrmann 84-75—159, Haack 77-85—162, Caliendo 75-89—164, Vachuska 88-79—167. Westosha Central — Wallace 74-78—152, Nelson 81-76—157, Hanna 82-83—165, Erdman 84-83—167, Shales 95-92—187. Mequon Homestead — Barnes 77-79—156, Huxley 79-79—158, Olson 83-77—160, Sullivan 85-82—167, Drozdowicz 86-87—173. Whitefish Bay — Schultz 74-76—150, Beischel 81-74—155, Mehls 85-83—168, Gooding 85-88—173, Poehlmann 88-94—182. Lake Geneva Badger — Al. Gaugert 74-74—148, Au. Gaugert 80-79—159, Michalove 82-88—170, Cuculi 89-86—175, Allegretti 86-89—175. Ashwaubenon — Ostrowski 78-79—157, Dougherty 79-80—159, Richardson 79-82—161, Kelly 88-88—176, Johnson 93-88—181. Kenosha Bradford — Ebert 74-77—151, Madrigrano 77-85—162, Borman 87-83—170, Stella 87-90—177, Suokko 85-92—177. Chippewa Falls — Krula 75-80—155, Peterson 82-84—166, McDowell 86-82—168, Facklam 87-84—171, Plombon/Melberg 89-89—178. Beloit Memorial — Lang 80-80—160, Dahlberg 90-82—172, Meier 87-85—172, Mauel 82-91—173, Mikkelson 92-85—177. Neenah — Holm 85-81—166, Hermans 90-81—171, Quella 82-89—171, Lynch 85-86—171, Rued 87-87—174.

Individual qualifiers

Appleton North — Shybowski 83-72-155. Bay Port— Breitenfeldt 82-80—162. Brookfield Central — Grosse 71-73-144. Holmen — Pearse 82-80—162. Kettle Moraine — Frank 70-72-142. Madison West — Battista 70-70—140. Manitowoc — Ashenbrener 84-85—169. Merrill — Grisa 79-82—161. Middleton — Murphy 77-79-156. Milton — Fry 79-77—156. Milwaukee Hamilton — Fischbach 83-81-164. Milwaukee Marquette — Fentzlaff 73-77—160. Oconomowoc — Johnson 75-80-155. Oshkosh West — Szekeres 82-86—168. Racine Case — Gullberg 82-77-159. Schofield D.C. Everest — Fehrman 77-74—151. Sheboygan South — Huberty 79-82-161. South Milwaukee — Markiewicz 84-90—174. Sun Prairie — Ty. Cobb 82-89—171. Waukesha North — Cahill 74-83—157. Wausau East — Aicher 72-77—149. Wilmot — Cooke 76-81—157. Wauwatosa East/West — Zachman 79-74-153. Wisconsin Rapids — VanBeck 101-89—190. At University Ridge, par 72.