DARLINGTON 9/19 – When Brooke Marcue’s Lancaster girls golf team pulls into the country club parking lot on meet days, it’s then that their competition realizes they are playing for second place.
With four returning golfers from last year’s conference championship squad, this year’s Lancaster girls golf team dominated the Southwest Wisconsin Conference on their way to capturing back-to-back conference titles.
The Arrows finished first in each of their six conference meets held throughout the season, accumulating the maximum 35 team points, including the 10 points they won at last Tuesday’s conference finale.
“This team continues to flourish as the season progresses,” said coach Marcue. “They stay consistent in their scoring and work through their challenges on the course.”
“It has been fun watching each of the ladies succeed,” Marcue added. “My proudest coaching moments are watching the culture that these girls have developed.”
With an 18-hole team score of 356, the Arrows finished 44 strokes ahead of their closest competitor last Tuesday at the Darlington Country Club.
Lancaster senior Brianna Kirsch also continued her dominance, picking up medalist honors for the sixth time in six conference meets, and securing this year’s SWC Player of the Year honor.
Kirsch concluded conference play with the maximum of 175 conference points, while shooting a nine-hole conference average of 36.5 this season.
For Kirsch, it is the second time during her four-year high school career that she has won conferencePlayer of the Year honors, doing so as a sophomore with 171 conference points and a nine-hole average of 39.8.
Last year as a junior, Kirsch missed one conference meet, and finished half a point behind Madchen Ewig of Wisconsin Dells, who finished second to Kirsch this year by 25 points.
At last Tuesday’s conference finale, Kirsch fired a one-over-par round of 71, finishing a whopping 16 strokes ahead of Ewig, who finished second with her score of 87.
After parring the first two holes last Tuesday, Kirsch put together a string of three straight birdies on holes three, four and five. She parred six, bogeyed seven and parred eight and nine.
In her final nine holes, Kirsch parred seven of the nine, but doubled the 12th and bogeyed the 13th.
Finishing third of 25 golfers was Lancaster’s Kate McWilliams, who shot an 18-hole score of 88. She was followed by sophomore teammate Lynell Miller, who finished fifth with a sore of 93, while senior Evy Dhyanchand shot a 104 and freshman Margot Dhyanchand a 122.
Miller joined Kirsch on this year’s first-team all-conference list, finishing the regular season with 146 conference points and a nine-hole conference average of 46.0.
Earning second-team all-conference honors were Evy Dhyanchand and McWilliams, Dhyanchand with 123.5 points and an average of 48.2, and McWilliams with 118 points and an average of 49.5.
“These girls have worked very hard to earn their accomplishments,” Marcue said. “Each of these ladies plays a valuable role in being a member of the team and I am excited to see where the remainder of the postseason meets will take them.”
The Arrows begin their quest for a return trip to the WIAA State Championships at Wednesday’s Prairie du Chien Regional. From there, the top three teams advance to the division 2 Arcadia Sectional, along with the top three golfers who are not members of a qualifying team.
While Miller, McWilliams and Evy Dhyanchand will be looking to make their second trip to the WIAA state meet, Kirsch is poised to make her fourth trip after finishing 13th as a freshman, third as a sophomoreand sixth last year as a junior.
In the Division 2 state rankings conducted by the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin, the Flying Arrows are ranked third behind top-ranked and three-time defending state champion Prescott and second-ranked The Prairie School out of Racine.
Prescott, who graduated two-time defending state champion Ava Salay, returns two golfers from last year’s team, who won a playoff against The Prairie School, to secure their third consecutive state title last season.
If the regular season is any indication of how far the Lancaster ladies can go, the postseason ride should be a fun and exciting one for everyone following the Flying Arrows.
“At the end of the day these girls have each other’s backs. They have the drive, the passion, the competitive spirit, and they have the skill in order to succeed,” coach Marcue explained.
