Onalaska and Tomah Girls’ Golf Advance to Sectionals; 3 Schools Advance in D2

By Adam Roberts – 10/2/2020

After an abridged season, we already find ourselves in the WIAA girls’ golf playoffs this week, and the Coulee Region was well represented in Portage yesterday.

There will be two area teams at the Division 1 Tomah sectional next Monday, after Tomah (339) and Onalaska (347) finished second and third respectively in the Portage regional. The top four teams advance, and so Ona and Tomah will be joined by Waunakee, the regional champs with a 328, and Reedsburg who shot a 356.

Individually, five of the top ten golfers yesterday were from the Coulee Region. Hilltopper junior Kiya Bronston and Tomah junior Sophie Pokela had a friendly competition for second place, with Bronston shooting a plus-9 79, one of just two sub-80 scores on the day. Pokela’s 80 was good for a two-way tie for third, followed by Tomah’s VAR1 sophomore Brin Neumann and Ona’s Allison Balduzzi tied for sixth with an 83. Timberwolf sophomore Amelia Zingler tied for ninth with Reedsburg’s Ashleigh Johnson at 84.

Sparta was the other area school competing as a team; they finished 8th with a 446.

Other area individual scores included:

13. Amber Nguyen (ONA) – 89

T17. Jayda Zhu (TOM) – 92

23. Malia McGarry (ONA) – 96

T27. Hannah Zhu (TOM) – 101

30. Payton Jones (SPA) – 104

31. Lily Tobert (ONA) – 106

T34. Paige Winterton (SPA) – 112

T36. Olivia Veth (SPA) – 114

38. Ellie Kowitz (SPA) – 116

40. Becca Gann (SPA) – 157

The Tomah sectional is next Monday at Hiawatha Golf Club.

In Division 2, 3 area schools will advance to the Arcadia sectional; Arcadia/Independence, Black River Falls, and G-E-T placed 2nd through 4th respectively at Skyline Golf Course in Black River Falls and will advance along with Osseo-Fairchild/Fall Creek. Arcadia/Indy junior Hallie Tulip placed tied for first with an 18-hole 95. Gabby Antonelli of Black River Falls followed with a 98, as did Emily Nelson from G-E-T, while Aquinas’s Alexis Smith qualified as an individual and shot a 99, good for a tie for 5th.