Cardinals win fourth consecutive regional, sectional championships By Reagan Hoverman The Prescott Cardinals are one step closer to winning a third consecutive WIAA Division 2 State championship. …
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Cardinals win fourth consecutive regional, sectional championships
By Reagan Hoverman
The Prescott Cardinals are one step closer to winning a third consecutive WIAA Division 2 State championship.
Prescott’s girls’ golf team punched its ticket to the 2022 state tournament on Monday, Oct. 3, when it won the WIAA Division 2 Sectional championship at The Hidden Greens North Golf Course in Solon Springs. The sectional championship came less than a week after Prescott had won the Division 2 Regional championship at the Pheasant Hills Golf Course in Hammond on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
The Lady Cardinals punched their ticket to state on Monday, Oct. 3, with that aforementioned sectional championship victory up in Solon Springs. The course, located more than two hours north of Prescott had all of the typical Northwoods characteristics, including tree-lined holes and sparse grass that favored seasoned ball strikers like senior Ava Salay.
“Ava is really good with her ball striking. She doesn’t miss very many shots,” Chad Salay said. “When you’re a good ball striker, you’re going to separate on a course like that. This is a course where a ball striker is going to separate much more and that’s what you saw there today.”
Ava won the individual state championship with an individual score of 73, seven shots clear of the sec- ond-place finisher. Other scores include sophomore Gabbi Matzek’s round of 83, senior Rhi Stutz posted a score of 84, Maddie Reiter shot a 91 and Jeanne Rohl rounded out the scoring with a round of 98. Chad Salay spoke about winning another sectional championship.
“For the girls, it’s still exciting because it’s a different team and there are a couple of newcomers that haven’t been there,” Chad Salay said. “They were just as excited as any other team has been. Even the veterans are excited for them. I think a lot of them are just excited about the week experience leading up to state.”
The 37-shot victory at the sectional tournament was just a continuation of the success that Prescott experienced at regionals, where the Cardinals won by 38 strokes. Prescott’s team score of 330 meant that the team essentially shot its season average. The aforementioned Ava Salay shot a 75, which was five shots above
her average, while Matzek’s round of 85 was five shots below her average.
“We shot (at regionals) what we’ve been averaging all year,” Chad Salay said. “Gabbi Matzek played better than her average for the year, so we’re super pumped about that. Ava played a little bit above her average and Rhi Stutz and Jeanne Rohl played right to their number. It was just an average round for us.” Prescott shot another average round at the sectional meet and again left with some hardware to add to the trophy case. Ava Salay’s round of 73 will grab the headlines, but Matzek’s 83 as a sophomore made some noise on the individual lea- derboard where she finished in a tie for third with Ava Pesha of Somerset.
“Gabbi Matzek played unreal, for a five girl on our team she finished top said. “She played awesome. Especially for her first sec tional ever as a sophomore, for her to finish top five is incredible.”
Now that Prescott has won the regional and sectional championships, the next step is to claim a third consecutive WIAA Division 2 State championship. The state championship is the only portion of the high school golf playous that is a two-day event, which head coach Chad Salay believes is an advantage for his girls.
“I feel like some of these rain-shortened events that we’ve had have cost us a little bit," Chad Salay said. "We're confident that the more golf we play, we’re going to separate (from the competition).”
Coach Salay stated that the preparation method to get his girls ready for University Ridge in Madison is by playing Troy Burne in River Falls. According to Salay, the cours- es play fairly alike. The depth and divculty of the bunkers are similar and so are the putting surfaces and speeds of the greens.
“We’ll go to Troy Burne every day this week. The greens feel very similar and the course itself is comparable,” Chad Salay said. “The tight bent-grass fairways and the green complexes are great prep for state. We just don’t have bunkers to work out of at Highlands or Hollow.”
Prescott will play a practice round on Sun- day before the ovcial competition begins on Monday and finishes on Tuesday. Now that the Cardinals are knocking on the door of a third consecutive state championship, he spoke about the confidence level heading into the biggest tournament of the year.
“It feels like we’re on our way and I feel like the sectional was a big step,” Chad Salay said. “I saw some nerves from our girls that kind of got ironed out a bit. I saw nerves (at sectionals) and I thought, ‘This is going to be good. Because now they’ve played an unfa- miliar course in a playou atmosphere.' I think now they know how it’s going to feel when they get to a state tournament. We’re prepped and ready to go.”
Prescott will travel later this week and spend the weekend in Madison before day one of the state tournament begins on Monday morning.