By Natalie Dillon
ndillon@t
hemonroetimes.com
NEW GLARUS — Despite nearly an inch and a half of rain from the previous night, the Glarner Knights hosted their fifth annual New Glarus Invite on Wednesday, May 8. The team finished third of 12, just one stroke behind Capitol Conference rivals Monticello-Belleville.
“Since we finished one stroke out of second place, our players are inevitably searching their cards for strokes they wish they could have saved to end up with some hardware,” New Glarus head coach Johnathan Goodness said. “We reminded our players that as we approach the end of the season, these are the types of challenges that we will need to rise up and face with perseverance and positive attitudes.”
Six strokes separated team-leading Brett Warrell (83) and fifth-place finisher Jack Leonard (89).
Senior Reid Nolden was the driving force for second-place Monticello-Belleville, as he led all players with a score of 76. He birdied four holes, parred eight and bogeyed another four.
“It was the best round of my life and probably will be for a while,” Nolden said. “Golf is a lot more fun when you’re hitting the ball straight.”
Teammate Josh Potter finished just three strokes behind him in fourth. With two JV players brought up for the meet — Tanner Hilliard and Evan Thomas in place of Casey Hagen and Peyton Smith — Monticello-Belleville head coach Tyler Theden was thrilled with the results.
“I am beyond pleased with our results,” he said. “We had to call up two JV players, as two of our normal varsity players were unable to play. With that in mind, going into the round it was difficult to anticipate what kind of team score we might produce.”
With the regular season coming to a close — local conference tournaments are slated for May 13 and 14 with regionals beginning on May 21 — the New Glarus Invite was a good indicator of kids’ ability in the postseason.
Even with some athletes missing from its lineup, Monroe head coach Braden Rindy was pleased with his team’s results. Brady Spotts was the top finisher for the Cheesemakers with an 86. He tied for 17th with two other players.
“We had a few kids missing, but I was happy with how the kids played,” Rindy said. “It’s a great event for the kids to see where they are at this close to the end of the season.”
Monroe currently leads the Rock Valley-Valley Division with 24 points — three ahead of East Troy. Brodhead is fifth of six teams in the Rock Valley-Rock Division with its final mini meet having been played on May 10. Six points separate Monticello-Belleville (19) and New Glarus (25) in the Capitol, but both are well behind league-leading Cambridge (9). Argyle-Pecatonica (28.5) and Darlington (21) are separated by 7.5 points in the SWAL with league-leading Mineral Point (42) running away with the title.
The SWAL conference meet will be played at Edelweiss Chalet May 14, and although Argyle-Pecatonica head coach Chuck Chandler hasn’t been pleased with his team’s scores as of late, he hopes playing the course prior to the conference meet will be in his team’s favor.
“Overall, as a team we just played ok,” Chandler said. “What we need is four scores in the 80s, but it hasn’t happened yet in tournament play. Our conference tournament is at Edelweiss next Tuesday, so it was really good for the kids to play this course in preparation for that event.”
