Wildcats junior varsity wins JV BRC Championship

The River Falls High School girls golf team earned an expected fourth-place finish at the annual Big Rivers Conference Championship meet, which was held at the Lake Wissota Golf Course in Chippewa Falls on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

For the Lady Wildcats and head coach Tim LaVold, results from the entire season pointed to River Falls earning a fourth-place finish in the Big Rivers this season, given the strength of established programs in New Richmond and Hudson and the significant leap that Chippewa Falls took this ouseason.

The Wildcats finished the BRC Champi onship with a team score of 399, trailing Chi-Hi’s 374, New Richmond’s 359 and Hudson’s 358. Individual scores include junior Mahlia McCane’s team-best 90, junior Ellie Krueger posted a 95, senior Alisha Latham shot a 106 and senior Mollie Schmidt rounded out the scoring with a 108. LaVold spoke about the conference championship meet.

“We have finished in fourth place pretty much all year so doing so again at Conference was not surprising and the score was a reflection of some divcult conditions on Wednesday,” LaVold said. “Chippewa Falls did a nice job of improving their team this year and earned that third-place finish.” Despite playing in tough conditions, Krueger’s 95 included some of the best stretches of golf she’s played in her young career. LaVold spoke about Krueger playing smart golf and pouring in at least one long putt during the conference championship round.

“Ellie (Krueger) played a great round of golf. She is working hard at her mental approach to the game and saw some big success in that area in her score Wednesday,” LaVold said. “She made her first two birdies ever which included a 50-foot putt for birdie on the sixth hole and an absolutely surgical-like playing of the 18th hole. She hit three perfect shots on the 18th hole to finish her round with a great birdie.”

The aforementioned McCane, River Falls’ #1 golfer, posted that team-best round of 90 at the championship on Wednesday afternoon. That score came up just one shot shy of earning her a place on the First-Team All-Conference roster for the 2022 season. She still landed a spot on the Second-Team All-Conference list.

“Mahlia was working toward her goal of First-Team All-Conference and unfortunately came up one shot short to finish Second-Team All-Conference,” LaVold said. “This is still a fantastic accomplishment for her.”

While the varsity squad earned a fourth- place finish, the River Falls JV roster played some of its best golf of the season and captured the JV BRC Championship on Wednesday afternoon. LaVold spoke about the JV’s success in Chippewa Falls.

“Freshman Nathalie Rotsaert led the Wildcat JV team to the JV BRC Championship title,” LaVold said. “She shot a 44 to win the individual title and Riley Schmidt and Mad- die Tiuany finished tied for second place as they both shot 48. Isabelle Davenport and Mallory Johnson also placed in the top-10 for the victorious Wildcats.”

The Wildcats’ biggest goal this season is to advance to the sectional tournament as a team and that goal is still very much in play. River Falls will be competing in the Division 1 Regional at Mill Run in Eau Claire on Thursday, Sept. 29.

To reach sectionals, River Falls will have to be one of the four teams that advance out of the regional on Thursday afternoon. The Cats have already played Mill Run this season and posted some of their best individual scores of the year, including McCane’s career-best round of 77. “I’m excited for this week and the Regional meet. We like playing at Mill Run,” LaVold said. “The girls are all feeling good about their games and most importantly they are all doing the right things to prepare for the event. We are going to do some fun team-building things this week and we will be ready to tee it up on Thursday.”

While advancing to sectionals as a team is the goal, LaVold stated that regardless of what happens, he’s happy with how the girls have played this season and how seriously they’ve worked on their games throughout the summer and into the fall.

“This is what it’s all about. No matter what sport or activity you are in,” LaVold said. “Getting the opportunity to perform when it matters most. I have been very happy with the way the girls have handled themselves this season and the dedication to their team and their own game that they show every day in practice. It should be a fun couple of weeks.”

River Falls is slated to tee ou on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Mill Run Golf Course in Eau Claire. The top four total team scores will advance to the Division 1 Sectional on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at Troy Burne in River Falls. Golfers will tee it up at 9 a.m. for that meet to go to state.