River Falls, Ellsworth and Spring Valley/Elmwood-Plum City are each moving onto Sections, cutting it close to come away with top four spots at each of their Regionals.

The Wildcats hosted their Division 1 Regional. They took third place as a team, scoring a 310, which landed them behind Hudson (300) and Menomonie (305) and ahead of New Richmond (313) and Superior (318). There was not much breathing room in the standings, but River Falls got it done.

“The goal of Regionals is to advance as a team to Sectionals, so the goal is met. We were kind of hoping we would have finished in second place, which gets us in a different wave at Sectionals, but Menomonie had a great day, so hats off to them,” River Falls Coach Tim LaVold said. “All in all, I was happy with the results. I really feel like we’re in a good spot here at Sectionals.”

Senior Ryan Swanson tied for the win individually with a 71, which is nothing new for him this season. Senior Jaxon Flanagan had an excellent event, tying for fifth with a 75. Rounding out the lineup were senior Archimedes Xiong (80), junior Nolen Dado (84) and sophomore Broden Flanagan (87). Xiong birdied his final two holes, Dado birdied his final hole and Swanson birdied his final hole, essentially making the difference between a third or fourth place finish.

“It was a benefit to Jaxon [to host], because he really likes playing there,” LaVold said. “We made it by eight shots, so him putting that number up was really huge… Ryan has shot 71 everywhere he’s gone this year, so it was just another round for him.”

River Falls will be in the first Sectional wave of teams to compete, so they are looking to set the tone and put up a score that is tough for the second wave teams to beat.

“I want to see us play the way we have all year. A lot of times, we get to Sectionals and we get scared or nervous or something, and we shoot a score way higher than we have all year,” LaVold said. “If this team can get on the golf course tomorrow and do what we’ve done all year, then someone else is going to have to beat us, and if they do, hats off to them.”

Middle Border teams Ellsworth and Prescott were at the Osceola Regional. Ellsworth advanced, taking the fourth and final spot with a 334. The score was behind St. Croix Central (321), Amery (322) and Somerset (322) and ahead of Durand-Arkansaw (340).

“If we had a bad thing happen, we did a good job of letting it go,” Ellsworth Coach Carson Huppert said. “Sometimes it can lead to a downward spiral, and that didn’t happen.”

It was freshman Nolan Helgeson who led the way for the Panthers, tying for fourth with a 77. He was followed by senior Coen Hinrichs (83), freshman Jordy Anderson (86), junior Rowan Nelson (88) and senior Andrew Girdeen (89).

The Ellsworth freshman duo of Helgeson and Anderson has performed well this season, and Huppert had no doubt the postseason pressure would not get to their heads.

“They’re both very talented, they play a lot of golf,” Huppert said. “The future looks bright with those two.”

Huppert said it will take their best stuff to advance to State, so they are going to give it all they have.

Prescott took eighth as a team with a 375. Junior Miles Malm led the way with an 83, losing a one-hole playoff to St. Croix Falls’ Payden Nichols that would have sent him to Sectionals as an individual. Junior Shia Parmeter scored a 93, senior Calen Jackson scored a 99, freshman Miles Hendrickson scored a 100 and junior Emmett Stoeckel scored a 162.

SV/EPC’s 368 slotted them into fourth place, five strokes ahead of the Fall Creek team that missed out on the final spot and five strokes behind third place Neillsville.

“A lot of up and down at the beginning. Had a couple guys who couldn’t really get anything going at the beginning, but stuck with it and turned things around,” SV/EPC Coach Tyler Anderson said.

Sophomore Ruger Peavey took fifth with an 86 and senior Darik Stoffel tied for 10th with an 88 (a personal low round). Junior Chase Glaus scored a 96, freshman Samuel Bauer scored a 98 and junior Parker Peabody scored a 102.

“We’re just excited to make it as a team and have the opportunity to play,” Anderson said. “Just really cool moment for some of these guys... Something that they hopefully won’t forget.”

Glaus was a golfer who stood out to Anderson, having a bit of a slow front nine, but coming up huge in the back nine to help SV/EPC qualify for Sectionals for the first time since 2019. Peavey also parred the final three holes which made a big difference.

It was Bauer’s second varsity appearance and Stoffel spent much of the year on JV, but the two showed up when their name was called.

“Just being ready to play. Practicing all year and not being overwhelmed by stepping into postseason play,” Anderson said. “Bauer, his first varsity match was our conference tournament... I believe those were his first two matches of the year where he shot under 100. Like I said, Darik Stoffel, he’d been playing really good golf for us on JV late in the year, and made the switch to having him on varsity, and that paid off with his best round ever.”

River Falls competes in the Marshfield Sectional on June 2, Ellsworth is in the Spooner Sectional on June 3 and SV/EPC will be at the Winter Sectional on June 2.