End of the road

Shane Frey knew the task was monumental. That his Sauk Prairie’s boys golf team would need to have their best round of the year, while some other teams struggled. In the end, that didn’t happen. Sauk Prairie, which was gunning for its first trip to the WIAA state golf championship since 1996, fell short at the Madison Memorial Sectional held at Blackhawk Country Club on May 29. Middleton won the team title with a four-person score of 301, while Waunakee shot a 313 and claimed the second team berth. Madison Memorial (315), Holmen (326) and Sauk Prairie (338) rounded out the top five at the eight-team sectional. The top three individuals from non-qualifying teams also received berths to state, but the Eagles fell short in that quest, as well. “We knew that we would need to have our best day to be in the running to qualify for state,” said Frey, who guided the Eagles to a second place finish in the Badger Small Conference and a trip to sectionals this spring. “I really thought a team score in the 320 range was very doable for us and would put us in the mix. While we fell short of that goal, we did have a pretty good day and gained some great experience.” Middleton was ranked No. 2 in the final Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin poll, while Waunakee was No. 5. So Frey and his Eagles knew that passing one of those two schools — as well as several others in this loaded sectional — was going to be a handful. Sauk Prairie had experience at Blackhawk and certainly had a solid day at sectionals. In the end, though, it wasn’t quite enough. “Making it to sectionals as a team was one of our top goals at the beginning of the season, and so accomplishing that was really exciting for everyone,” Frey said. “I felt that the guys were pretty relaxed going into the sectionals. We have played Blackhawk Country Club a couple of times before, so we had some familiarity with the course.   “Blackhawk has a lot of similarities to Lake Wisconsin Country Club — not a long course, some short par 4’s, great greens. We were certainly ready to go. The biggest thing that we talked about beforehand was the importance of getting off to a solid start and not putting yourself in panic mode too early in the round. You can’t win the tournament in the first nine holes, but you can certainly lose it there.” The Eagles didn’t get off to the kind of start they hoped, and most of their players were 3- or 4-over-par after six holes. “That means you need to play pretty flawlessly the rest of the way to have a chance to move on,” Frey said. “I don’t really think anyone ever thought they were out of it, but their body language showed me that they were not happy with their start.” Senior Garret Mittelstaedt and junior Gavin Falde led the Eagles with 83s, while sophomore Graysen Dunn (84) also had a solid day. Junior Gavin Goetsch and senior Colin Harrington both added 88s. While the 338 was a solid score, Frey & Co. knew they’d have to be great on this day to advance. “They just couldn’t quite get over the hump and really get it going,” Frey said. Still, it was a tremendous season for Sauk Prairie golf. The Eagles contended for a conference title all season long, before settling for second. They were third at their own regional, which sent them to sectionals. And they played well at sectionals. “In the end, I am super proud of our team,” Frey said. “We had a great year, made great strides from last year.” Mittelstaedt, a three-year varsity player, will be tough to replace. Harrington was a two-year varsity member who improved dramatically throughout. “Garret will be greatly missed,” Frey said. “I am really happy that he was able to compete at sectionals this year. I know that it was goal of his and he went out and made it happen with his performance at our regional.   “Colin … had a big impact on our team accomplishments, as well. He had his best round (77) at regionals and really improved a lot in his short time on our team. While those guys will be missed, I am excited about those who will return.” With good reason. The trio of Dunn, Goetsch and Falde all had strong seasons and give Frey a terrific core to build around in 2025. “They have high expectations for themselves and will work hard in the off-season and continue to get better,” Frey said. “We will have a couple of spots in the lineup to fill, but we have plenty of young players that have shown great promise. They too, need to play a lot in the summer and really push themselves to earn a spot in the lineup. It will be fun to see how things play out next year.”