Sauk Prairie golfers set for postseason

The postseason is just around the corner. And Sauk Prairie’s boys golf team is performing at an extremely high level as the playoffs near. The Eagles finished in second place last week at a Badger Conference Small Mini-Meet held at Reedsburg on May 7. Sauk Prairie then was second at its own 15-team invite on May 8. Here’s a recap of the Eagles’ terrific week.   BADGER SMALL     MINI-MEET The Eagles finished with a 322-team score, seven shots behind first place Stoughton (315). Sauk Prairie needed to finish ahead of the Vikings to earn a share of the regular season conference title, but settled for second place instead. “I feel like we were confident and felt that we could make a good run at Stoughton,” Eagles coach Shane Frey said. “We had played at Reedsburg Country Club earlier in the season and felt that having that experience could give us an edge.   “Our conference matches have been so tight this year. It has always been 5-10 strokes separating first through sixth place. The guys realize that every stroke counts and each match is going to come down to executing down the stretch and finishing strong. At the end of the day, Stoughton was too tough.” Gavin Falde led the Eagles with a 78, while Garret Mittelstaedt carded a 79. Gavin Goetsch shot an 81 and Graysen Dunn added an 84. “Gavin Falde had a great round,” Frey said. “He was very excited and it was fun to see him play well. He has had a couple of really good rounds this year. I am looking for more consistency from Gavin and hopefully this round will give the confidence to know that he can play with anyone.   “Garret Mittelstaedt had another great day. He had a lot of pars on his card and just played a very steady round of golf. It is good to see him playing well this time of year.      SAUK PRAIRIE  INVITATIONAL The Eagles fired a 322 and finished in second place at their own tournament held at Lake Wisconsin Country Club on May 8. Janesville Craig won the team title with a sizzling 306, followed by the Eagles (322), Stoughton (324), Madison West (335) and DeForest (341). “It was an absolutely perfect day,” Frey said. “This event was supposed to take place on April 2, but snow forced us to reschedule.  “We had talked going into this tournament about the importance of using this round as another learning opportunity and a chance to compete against some good competition. We host our regional next week, so I was excited to see the guys have a chance to be in another competitive round on our home course.” Graysen Dunn led the Eagles with a 75, while Gavin Goestch fired a 78. Gavin Falde and Ben Janquart both added 84s. “Graysen Dunn had an outstanding round,” Frey said. “His short game was really good and he just had a really solid day. I know that he is looking to make a run when we get to tournament time and this should give him some confidence moving forward.   “Gavin Goestch also had a really good day. His round of 78 was his best competitive round for us. He is a very capable golfer with a great short game. He has been one of our consistent golfers this year and it was good to see him put it all together and finish strong.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie was at the Battle at the Rock held at Wild Rock Golf Club in Wisconsin Dells on Tuesday. The Eagles were then headed to the Badger Small Conference meet at Wild Rock on Wednesday beginning at 10 a.m. “We will need to win the conference tournament and have Stoughton finish back in the pack to have a chance at winning conference,” Frey said. “We will focus on controlling what we can control and let the other things take care of themself.”   The Eagles then host the WIAA Division 1 Sauk Prairie Regional on May 21 at Lake Wisconsin. Joining the Eagles at regionals will be Madison East, Madison Memorial, Madison West, Middleton, Mount Horeb, Verona and Waunakee. The top four teams at regionals advance to the Madison Memorial Sectional at Blackhawk on May 29. The top two teams at sectionals advance to the state tournament June 3-4 at Blackwolf Run in Kohler. “Our upcoming regional will feature some very good teams,” Frey said. “We have had a good year and our ultimate goal is to qualify as a team for sectionals. It will not be an easy feat, but one that we all feel is an attainable goal.   “Middleton and Waunakee are highly ranked schools and I am sure they will put up some good scores. Madison West, Madison Memorial and Mount Horeb all have quality golfers on their teams. We have competed with them all year and I am hoping that playing at Lake Wisconsin will give us an edge and some confidence to make it through.”