The Spring Valley Cardinals played two rounds of golf this week, finishing 17^th at the Whitetail Invitational in Colfax and then taking fourth at the Valley Golf course in conference play on Thursday.

Although they finished near the bottom in Colfax, there were some positive outcomes. Mara Ducklow led the team in scoring, shooting a 95, finishing in the middle of the 100-person pack and beating out literally dozens of young men in the process. She did a great job of limiting the blow-up holes, and finished especially strong, hitting her stride on the back nine.

Tyler Paulson came in second shooting as the #3 and Sam Steinmeyer wasn’t far behind them, shooting from the #1 spot. Like Ducklow, Paulson also did a good job of minimizing damage, especially on the back nine. Steinmeyer played a characteristically strong game but had just a couple of holes get away from him early that impacted his final line.

Things sort of reversed themselves the following day at the Valley as Steinmeyer finished with an eight-stroke lead over the rest of the red birds, sinking a birdie on the first hole and going on to post a 44 on the round. Maxx Wittmer came in second on the team from the #5 spot, playing a very tight game and finishing with a 51. Ducklow did what she always does, playing consistent golf, but the very last hole sunk her score a bit, and she finished with a 52.

Spring Valley was supposed to play a third contest last week on Friday, which would’ve been their sixth Dunn-St. Croix Conference match, but the weather didn’t cooperate, unfortunately.

With hopefully a nice week of weather on deck, the team looks forward to playing another pair of DSC Conference meets. First up, is a home meet for the Cardinals as they play their first round at Spring Valley Golf Course on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Then they travel back to Whitetail to play another conference match on Thursday at 1 p.m.

Prescott

The Prescott Cardinals played two great rounds of golf last week, first winning the Whitetail Invitational in Colfax on Wednesday and then taking fourth at the Bloomer Invitational on Friday.

The Cardinals played two full rounds of golf, shooting a 322 at Whitetail and a 327 in Bloomer.

Their victory on Wednesday was a narrow one, finishing just two strokes ahead of Durand. Tyler Reiter predictably led the way with a final tally of 73, finshing +2 on a par 71 course with four bogeys and two birdies. He also took second place overall as an individual behind only Ethan Hall of Osceola.

Sam Vesperman sank three birdies on the front nine to finish par, but unfortunately had some worse luck on the back finishing +8 on the day. Luke Kinneman and Harris Linderholm each finished with an 85 to round out the scoring on the day.

Although they took fourth as a team in Bloomer, Reiter took first overall as the only person to shoot +1 or better on the day at 72. After finishing with two birdies and four bogies on the front nine, he tightened his game up and sank two more birdies on the back portion to just a single bogey.

Vesperman came in second on the team out of the #2 spot at 81 and Linderholm’s 85 was good for third out of the fourth spot. Kinneman rounded out the scoring for the day at 89.

Up next for the Cardinals’ golf team is a short one-round week on Tuesday when they travel to Lake Elmo to play the Battle on the Border at Royal Golf Club.

Ellsworth

The Ellsworth Panthers played two rounds of golf this week, finishing ninth at the Whitetail Invitational on Wednesday and then taking sixth on Friday at the Bloomer Invitational.

Most rounds for the Panthers are typically nine holes, but both invitationals this week were of the 18-hole variety. They wrapped up Wednesday’s round at Whitetail in the exact middle of the pack at the 18-team event with a team score of 371, and then finished sixth out of 23 teams just two days later with a team score of 340, shaving 31 strokes off as a whole.

Even though Ellsworth didn’t finish as strongly on Wednesday as a team as they did on Friday, Trey Wittenberg, the team’s #1, still had a nice round. He led the team in scoring with an 80, which was good for eighth out of 90 players. There was an opportunity for him to finish even higher there after shooting +2 on the front nine, but he ran into some trouble on the back half putting up a +7.

Thomas Tober came in second on the team with a 92, Cooper Olson finished with a 97 and Rowan Nelson rounded out the scoring for the Panthers with a 102.

The team shot night and day better at the Bloomer Invite. Wittenberg still led the team in scoring as the #1 usually will, putting up a 75 and finishing eighth out of 119 players.

He ran into a little trouble early, putting up double bogies on holes 3 and 4, but then settled in and sank a birdie on 5 which mitigated some of that lost ground. Wittenberg eventually took a +4 round into the back nine where he really made his hay, putting up two birdies in the first three holes and finishing with a par on that portion of the course.

Nelson had a great day as well shooting from the #4 spot in the lineup, with a final score of 83. Like Wittenberg, his front consisted of one birdie and wasn’t as good as the back for him, finishing +8 on that section. He had a few bogies to open that part of the course, but then got hot, putting up a birdie and four straight pars to finishing with four less strokes than the front and tying for 22^nd on the day.

The #2 shooting Tober cut a couple strokes off his game in this one as well, finishing with a 90, and Olson shave a handful with a 92 to finish up the scoring for Ellsworth.

Coming up for the guys this week is just a single round when they travel to Lake Elmo for the Battle on the Border at Royal Golf Club at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

River Falls

The River Falls Wildcats played in one event last week, taking fourth at a Big Rivers Conference meet in Rice Lake on Thursday.

On the whole, the guys played very well and finished with a team score of 157, although the Wildcats’ top scorers from the day were a little unusual.

Connor O’Malley shot out of the #3 position on Thursday, but he took home the team’s top score with a +3 at 38 strokes and finishing eighth overall out of 40 players. It wasn’t a flashy round, but it featured very few mistakes. There were no big blowup holes, just a few single bogies and a lot of pars, which is exactly what you want.

Ryan Swanson and Will Benedict, the team’s #1 and #2 shooters, each took home a 39 for their efforts, finishing tied for 11^th with four over par on the day. After a double bogey on Hole 1, Swanson was more dialed in the rest of the way, parring six of the eight final holes. Benedict had a similar round, taking a bogey on 1 but then parring six of the remaining eight.

The Wildcats’ final scoring round on the day was #5 shooter Ty Wise who shot a 41, just edging out #4 player Archimedes Xiong’s 42. Wise also did a good job of limiting mistakes, with just one double bogey on the round and contributing a counting score from the 5-hole. He tied for 23^rd.

Looking forward, River Falls continues their varsity season with a full week of events. It tees off with a Big Rivers Conference event on Monday at Lake Wissota at 3:30 p.m., then continues with the Viking Invitatonal on Wednesday at Cedar Creek Golf Club in Albertville at 11 a.m. They then play back-to-back events, first at the Hayward Invitational on Friday at 9 a.m. and then at Erin Hills Golf Course in Hartford on Saturday at 8 a.m.