The Superior High School boys golf team won the WIAA regional championship Wednesday at the New Richmond Golf Club, but it took an extra hole.
The Spartans and River Falls finished 18 holes tied with scores of 323s, which meant all five golfers from both teams would participate in a sudden death tiebreaker.
Superior's five golfers were ever par with a score of 16 after the first hole of the tiebreaker, while River Falls came in at 5-over with 21 strokes.
The Spartans were led by seniors Blake Johnson and Nolan Holcombe, who tied for second place with 80s. Holcombe's round including making par on his final five holes and nine of his last 10.
"Blake and Nolan are definitely playing their best golf at the right time," SHS coach Dan Schulz said. "The improvement in their scores throughout the course of the season is truly impressive, it's all because of the leadership and dedication they display during practice."
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Also for Superior, Chris Rochon tied for fourth with an 81; Daniel Burger was a stroke back at 82 and Spencer Sitek carded an 86.
"Chris got off to a tremendous start, he was 2-under through the first four holes and even par through 10 holes, that was a huge calming influence for the rest of our team," Schulz said. "Daniel didn't play his best round of the year but I was proud of him for the way he battled, ultimately making a clutch birdie on the final hole to help us get into the playoff. This was a good experience (team playoff) for him to get under his belt in his first post-season competition as a freshman."
Garrett Loomis of River Falls was the meet's medalist with a 74.
"River Falls has a great team -- they are well coached and everybody in our section understands they are the team to try to hang with on the leaderboard every tournament,' Schulz said. "I think the opportunity we had last year to compete in a team playoff at regionals was the difference. It's just a different experience when you play a hole with 10 golfers at the same time, there are shots flying all over the place and it's difficult to hold your concentration.
"I couldn't be happier for these athletes, they played unbelievable under pressure Wednesday."
The Spartans and Wildcats will now golf in the sectional meet at the Ridgeway Country Club in Marshfield at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The top two teams and the top three golfers, not on one of the top two teams, will advance to the WIAA State Tournament June 4-5 at University Ridge in Madison.
WIAA Division 1 Regional
New Richmond Golf Club
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Team Scores
1. *Superior 323
1. River Falls 323
3. Hudson 335
4. Eau Claire Memorial 338
5. New Richmond 344
6. Eau Claire North 350
7. Chippewa Falls 353
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8. Rice Lake 361
9. Menomonie 379
*Won tiebreaker.
Individual Scores
1. Garrett Loomis, River Falls 74
2. Blake Johnson, Superior 80
2. Nolan Holcombe, Superior 80
4. David Kein, Hudson 81
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4. Chris Rochon, Superior 81
6. Mike Xiong, River Falls 82
6. Holden Ohlsen, River Falls 82
6. Ben Norman, New Richmond 82
6. Daniel Burger, Superior 82
10. Ryan Isaacson, E.C. Memorial 83
10. Spencer Golden, Rice Lake 83
12. Pat Bowers, Hudson 84
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12. Alan Schomburg, E.C. Memorial 84
12. Kory Shervey, Chippewa Falls 84
15. Brody Belland, Hudson 85
15. Ben Lewis, Hudson 85
15. Nate Webb, E.C. Memorial 85
15. Tanner Wisemiller, New Richmond 85
15. Jake Knotek, River Falls 85
15. Cale Dutter, Eau Claire North 85
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21. Ben Johnson, E.C. Memorial 86
21. Spencer Sitek, Superior 86
23. Matt Haselwander, E.C. North 87
24. Mitch Sinz, Menomonie 88
24. Jordan DeLao, Hudson 88
24. Connor McCann, New Richmond 88
24. Ryan Heck, Chippewa Falls 88
24. Aaron Neuser, Rice Lake 88
29. Scott Ross, Menomonie 89
29. Kole Hallmark, New Richmond 89
29. Kendall Faanes, E.C. North 89
29. Isaac Bliek, Chippewa Falls 89
29. Tyler Bee, Eau Claire North 89
34. Kyle Montgomery, New Rich. 90
35. Jared Bollinger, Eau Claire North 91
35. Blake Heiman, River Falls 91
37. Tyler Krula , Chippewa Falls 92
37. Mike Woodcock, Chippewa Falls 92
39. Matt Swanson, Rice Lake 94
40. Andrew Buchman, Rice Lake 96
40. Sam Burdick, Rice Lake 96
42. Chris Didier, Menomonie 98
43. Sam Kmetz, E.C. Memorial 102
44. Connor Hanson, Menomonie 104
45. Andrew Rogers, Menomonie 106
