Golf squad hosts Invitational
Tama Estebo taps in a putt for the Wisconsin Dells High School varsity girls golf team at Trappers Turn Thursday afternoon. Waunakee took the team championship at the Dells Invite and the low overall individual was Oregon's Abby Busler who defeated Christina DeBoer on a second playoff hole.
By Jim den Hollander
Mother Nature may have slept in a bit on Thursday. A tournament that seems to attract bad weather as much as quality golf teams every year, the annual Wisconsin Dells High School varsity golf team's Invitational tournament went off without a hitch on Wednesday and Thursday. In fact, the only sign of bad weather came as golfers were walking back to the clubhouse at Trappers Turn Thursday afternoon. The Chiefs, left short staffed due to injury and other commitments fielded three varsity and three junior varsity golfers for the event. Senior Mary Moore opened with a tough round of 120 at Christmas Mountain Wednesday, but equaled her personal best 100 set the previous week at Trappers on Thursday. Fellow senior Kirsten Schueler also saw a sharp improvement on the second day, moving from a 117 at the Mountain to a 111 at Trappers. Freshman Tama Estebo turned in a pair of solid rounds as well, her 129 Wednesday and 132 Thursday, rounding out the varsity squad, which was unable to take part in the team event due to its numbers. Among the junior varsity trio, the lone golfer to make both rounds was freshman Samantha Mueller who fired a 151 at Christmas Mountain, then added a 159 at Trappers. Junior Nicole Leach golfed at the Mountain Wednesday, firing a round of 165 and freshman Jasmine Holland collected a 157. Both missed the rounds at Trappers. Also absent, from both rounds was senior Devan Dollar, expected to be out for about a week due to injury. Of the 14 teams in attendance, only seven completed both rounds with a full team, the overall Invitational Championship going to Waunakee with a score of 722 (376-346), seven strokes in front of second place Oregon while Holmen was next at 740. At the Mountain, Homestead recorded the low round of the day with a 334, 31 better than second place Oregon. However, Homestead did not take part in the Trappers Turn Round. The best team score at Trappers was a 346 fired by eventual champions, Waunakee. Holmen chopped 28 stroks off of its previous day total and sat in second spot with 351, 15 strokes in front of third place Oregon. Low individual round at Christmas Mountain was a 79 fired by Sarah Gradecki of Homestead, two better than teammate Nicole Westcott and three in front of Christina DeBoer from Holmen and Abby Busler of Oregon who tied for third at 82. Ironically, the same pair tied again at Trappers, this time for both the low round of the day and the low two-day individual total. Matching 77's put the pair back on the course for a playoff, Busler getting the nod on a second playoff hole. L. Brooks of Waunakee had the next best score at Trappers with an 80. Overall, Busler and DeBoer tied at 159 with Brooks next at 170. In junior varsity play there were only four full teams in attendance at Christmas Mountain, Homestead topping the list again with a 464, 10 in front of Waunakee. The following day, just two full teams arrived at Trappers, Waunakee getting the edge 447-484 over Portage with a dominant day that saw the Warriors record the top four individual scores. 2008 WDHS Girls Invitational August 19 - Christmas Mountain Team Scores: Homestead 334; Oregon 363; Waunakee 376; Arcadia 385; Holmen 389; Osseo-Fairchild 392; Stoughton 408; Portage 418; Prairie du Chien 483; Mount Horeb 484; Reedsburg 545. Tomah - No Score; Wisconsin Dells - No Score. Top 10 Individuals: S. Gradecki (Homestead) 79; N. Wescott (Homestead) 81; C. DeBoer (Holmen) 82; A. Busler (Oregon) 82; E. Barragry (Homestead) 83; B. Finner (Arcadia) 84; M. Young (Osseo-Fairchild) 88; L. Brooks (Waunakee) 90; C. Dubester (Waunakee) 90; K. Zganjar (Homestead) 91. August 20 - Trappers Turn Team Scores: Waunakee 346; Holmen 351; Oregon 366; Arcadia 394; Portage 405; Stoughton 417; Osseo-Fairchild 420; Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau 430; Tomah - No Score; Wisconsin Dells - No Score. Top 10 Individuals: A. Busler (Oregon) 77 (2nd playoff hole); C. DeBoer (Holmen) 77; Brooks (Waunakee) 80; C. Dubester (Waunakee) 84; M. Donohue (Portage) 88; B. Finner (Arcadia) 89; C. Beranek (Holmen) 89; M. Madden (Waunakee) 89; A. Vold (Osseo-Fairchild) 90; B. Wesley (Holmen) 91. Overall two day totals Team Scores: Waunakee 722; Oregon 729; Holmen 740; Arcadia 779; Osseo-Fairchild 812; Portage 822; Stoughton 825; Tomah - No Score; Wisconsin Dells - No Score. Top 5 Individuals: A. Busler (Oregon) 159 (Second Playoff Hole); C. DeBoer (Holmen 159; L. Brooks (Waunakee) 170; B. Finner (Arcadia) 173; 5. C. Dubester (Waunakee) 174. August 19 - JV Christmas Mountain Team Scores: Homestead 464; Waunakee 474; Portage 517; Mount Horeb 574; Prairie du Chien - No Score Wisconsin Dells - No Score. Top Inidvidual Scores: Patti Laufenberg (Waunakee) 104; Olivia Gilbert (Homestead) 114; Emily Sweet (Homestead) 114; Kate Wirthlin (Homestead 115); Labreya Johnson (Waunakee) 121; Sabrina Kaha (Homestead) 121; Cierra Steiner (Prairie du Chien) 121) August 20 - Trappers Turn Team Scores: Wuankee 447; Portage 484; Wisconsin Dells - No Score. Top Individuals: Labreya Johnson (Waunakee) 106); Kelly Meier (Waunakee) 113; Patti Laufenberg (Waunakee) 113; Caitlin Frawley (Waunakee) 115; Kaitie Kuhl (Portage) 117; Whitney Lambert (117); Amy Ryde (Portage) 117).