Sobotta, Raiders win Coulee golf opener

After winning its first Coulee Conference championship in more than 10 years in 2022, the Arcadia High School boys golf team has aspirations to defend its title.

They got off to the perfect start last week, winning the season opening match at Coulee Golf Bowl on Thursday.

Arcadia’s 179 was the lowest score of any team, followed by West Salem (184) and Westby/Viroqua (185) to round out the top three. Luther and G-E-T tied for fourth at 201, followed by Black River Falls (204) and Hillsboro (227).

The Raiders were led by Cole Sobotta, whose 4-over-par 40 was enough for medalist honors as the lowest score of the day.

Sid Halvorsen helped Arcadia with his 44, which was good for the fifth best round on Thursday. The Raiders also got a 46 from Joey Theis and a 49 from Kaiden Rotering at the par-36 course in Onalaska.

Arcadia coach Mitch Sobotta said he thinks his team has a chance to repeat as conference champions after earning their first conference title in 10 years last season.

“We’ve got everybody coming back. It’s pretty exciting. We have a couple good seniors and even our JV is just a good group of kids, too,” he said.

The G-E-T program is in a build year, according to coach Jon Mullikin.

Their top score was a 47 from Kylan Olson, and Aiden Johnson shot a 49 for the Red Hawks.

“We lost some top six golfers, so this year we have 15 on the golf roster and two of the 15 have some experience at the varsity level. The rest of them have JV experience and some middle school,” Mullikin said.

“So the 15 that I have are a great group of kids that want to improve.”

The Red Hawks also saw a 52 from Mason Kromrey, a 53 from Domanick Knott, a 57 from Thomas Ziegler and a 58 from Nic Jumper.

Arcadia’s scores were rounded out by a pair of 51s from Dustin Klonecki and Tristan Lyga.

The Raiders’ coach said his team will need to continue working to defend its conference crown, but he is happy to be back on the course with his team.

“I’m just excited to see what the kids bring with them and to get back on the course will be exciting,” Sobotta said. “It’s always fun having a group of kids that enjoy the game maybe even more than I do.”

Special Sections

Comment Here