Arcadia freshman advances to golf sectional
Arcadia freshman Landon Jaszewski punched his ticket to sectionals by firing a five-over 76 at last week’s regional meet at Trempealeau Mountain Golf Club. (Times photograph by Zach Rastall)
G-E-T junior Kylan Olson smacked a putt during his round at last week’s Division Two regional in Trempealeau. (Times photograph by Zach Rastall)
Arcadia’s Landon Jaszewski has told himself throughout his freshman season of golf that he belongs competing among the best at the varsity level. If there was still any lingering sliver of doubt in that fact, it should be fully eliminated after he saved some of his best play of the spring for his regional round.
Jaszewski fired a 76 to tie for third at the WIAA Division Two Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau regional meet last Tuesday at Trempealeau Mountain Golf Club, earning himself a spot at sectionals in the process.
Four team sectional spots and four individual sectional spots from the top golfers not on qualifying teams were up for grabs at the meet, and Jaszewski posted the best score among the individual qualifiers.
Following back-to-back double bogeys on the 13th and 14th holes, Jaszewski recovered well to shoot even par over the final four holes to lock up his sectional berth.
“I’ve kind of never been fearful of anyone. I’ve told myself ‘I’m meant to be here. I’m supposed to be one of the top ones,’” Jaszewski said of his mindset throughout his freshman season. “So the fear aspect never really came in. I kind of just played my game.”
The other three individual sectional qualifiers were Stanley-Boyd sophomore Carson Woodcock (77), Mauston/Necedah sophomore Carson Demaske (80) and Westby/Viroqua senior Brooks Hoffland (81).
Altoona sophomore Elliot Skinner earned top medalist honors by firing an even-par 71 for the day.
La Crosse Aquinas won the regional title with a team score of 309 and were joined by Black River Falls (328), West Salem (329) and Altoona (337) among the crop of team sectional qualifiers.
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau was in seventh with a 346 and Arcadia came in ninth at 348.
G-E-T senior Nic Jumper carded an 83 to lead the way for the Red Hawks and come up two strokes shy of a playoff for a sectional spot.
“Nick has worked so hard all his four years,” said G-E-T head coach Michael Jon Mullikin. “He loves the game of golf and the kids around him see him work very hard. He’s a good leader and leads by example in how he practices and how he plays. And I know he came up a couple shots short, but for him to be able to finish his career on his home course is bittersweet.”
Other scores posted by G-E-T golfers were sophomore Braydan Van Vreede and freshman Alex Anderson each with 86s, junior Aiden Johnson with a 91 and sophomore Kylan Olson with a 100.
Arcadia had sophomore Brogan Solberg at 86, senior Stryder Miller at 91, senior Carson Schultz at 95 and freshman Owen Anderson at 103.
“Stryder Miller and Carson have done a nice job. They’ve been very coachable, very committed and everything,” Arcadia head coach Mike Sobotta said of his graduating seniors. “I can’t say enough about them. We will miss them most definitely. They’re pretty good leaders and everything and we’re happy we had them for four years.”
