MADISON – The Bay Conference’s dominance at the 100th WIAA state golf championships was on full display at University Ridge Golf Course on June 9.
Seymour’s Vince Sigl repeated as Division 2 state champion in individual play and Winneconne captured the D2 team title in a playoff over Edgewood.
Fellow Bay Conference school Xavier also competed in the D2 team field, finishing fifth overall.
Sigl, who won last year’s championship in a playoff, entered Day 2 of this year’s tournament leading the field with a 1-under-par 71.
He was brilliant in the second round and finished with a 4-under-par 68 to finish with a two-day total of 139, four shots better than runner-up Elliot Skinner of Altoona.
A big reason for Sigl’s success was his short game.
“Short game is definitely a part of golf that I think you gain the most strokes on,” Sigl said. “And today and yesterday, I didn’t miss much greens but when I did, I knew I had the chance to get up and down. I’ve been scrambling my whole life around the course, so I’m pretty used to it now.”
Seymour coach Katie Grassel said Sigl has a great mental game with his preparation. Sigl improved his championship numbers from last season when he shot 147 (75-72).
“He knew that coming in today he needed to putt better than what he did last year,” Grassel said. “Last year, he putted OK, but he knew he wanted to be able to bring it up a little bit more. So that was one of our focuses. Day 1, he was a little disappointed, but Day 2 he had lots of one-putts out there.
“He was excited to play in the morning today because it’s nice and calmer. The greens are not as tore up, so that is always a great way to come out on the second day is to have the greens a little bit fresher for you.”
Vince’s younger brother Owen, a junior, shot a two-day total of 151 (78-73) and tied for seventh in individual play. Senior Tristan Drath had a two-day total of 163 (85-78) and tied for 29th place.
“Owen had a great 35 holes,” Grassel said. “He had one hole that he wishes he could take back. I told him not to focus on that. Tristan hits that long ball and he loves the game. You can tell when he is in his groove. I’m proud of those boys and what they’ve been able to accomplish in putting Seymour on the map for golf.”
Winneconne led by several strokes over the final few holes in regulation play, but a hard push from Edgewood enabled the Crusaders to get the tie and force the playoff.
The Wolves shot a combined 15 in the playoff round compared to Edgewood’s 17 on the No. 1 hole. A birdie from senior Parker Groff proved to be the difference.
Winneconne won with a 620. Xavier was fifth with 634.
“That’s a dream and definitely a way to go out,” Groff said. “It’s my last year and I got to play one extra hole to finish it off there. We played good as a team. A couple guys hit some great shots and I made that putt to seal it.”
Groff said he didn’t want to let nerves get to him in that moment.
“I was thinking don’t let the nerves get to you and don’t hammer it by,” he said. “So we got it done and we made the putt. It snuck to the right side, bottom of the cup.”
Austin Dobbe shot a two-day total of 149 (78-71) to tie for fourth place overall and lead the Wolves with Groff four strokes back (76-77-153).
Juniors Sawyer Krueger (85-76-161), Jackson Larson (83-80-163) and Sully Ramthun 79-86-165 also competed for the Wolves.
Dobbe said the team had confidence in that high-pressure, playoff moment.
“I know our team is great. We’ve done that so many times,” he said. “We did exactly what I thought we were gonna do.
“We’ve been in this for two years, the same team. We’re great friends. We all get along. It’s a great team. Best team I’ve ever seen.”
It was the Wolves’ seventh trip to state and first title. Winneconne had gotten close recently, finishing second in 2023 to Edgewood.
Winneconne coach Chris Peters, who shares head coaching duties with Brad Thomas, said Edgewood has been a nemesis for a while.
“We were always finishing behind Edgewood,” Peters said. “We took third a couple of years too. So we were battling those guys all the time. Kind of similar to the back and forth with Xavier. It’s just one of those schools where historically we were always competing against and they seemed to get the best of us one way or another. So to come out on top, the way we did, is extremely satisfying.”
Xavier’s Derek Watry tied for fourth overall in individual play with Winneconne’s Dobbe. He fired a two-day 149 (78-71).
Phillip Schmidtke (82-76-158) tied for 23rd for the Hawks with William Bauman (78-82-160) tied for 26th. Jack Schmidtke (83-84-167) and Grant Neumann (86-84-170) also competed for the Hawks.
In Division 3, Shiocton freshman Owen Reese finished 25th with a 166 (86-80).
Kimberly placed second in the D1 team competition with a 592. That was 14 strokes behind D1 champ Middleton, but the Papermakers did finish three strokes ahead of defending D1 champ Marquette. De Pere finished in fourth place with a 601 total.
Andrew Ostermann led the Papermakers with a fifth-place finish. He shot a two-day total of 140 (67-73).
“Coming in the boys were very confident, thinking they had a chance. They were hoping for second place,” Kimberly coach Greg Lueneburg said. “Andrew’s the only one that’s ever been to state. He stepped up and showed that he had been a veteran and knew what to do down here under the pressure. And the other boys just stepped up, just enough to take second place, which is phenomenal.”
Tyler Steeno tied for 12th (76-70-146) and Collin Hermann was 20th (76-72-148) for the Papermakers. Drew Grant (80-80-160) and Tyson West (78-82-160) were tied for 66th.
All five golfers are juniors, which bodes well for the Papermakers next season.
“They’re already talking about how they’re going to start doing stuff tomorrow, so they’re ready to go,” Lueneburg said. “They wanna win the thing next year, which is a great attitude.”
Appleton North’s Jonathan Huenink tied for 33rd after shooting a two-day total of 153 (77-76).
De Pere was led by freshman Grant Lawton, who finished 10th with a 143 (72-71). Cooper Eakin tied for 33rd with a 153, Palmer Anderson tied for 39th with a 154, Jonah Garot tied for 54th with a 158 and Cam Bjorge tied for 72nd with a 161.
Grant Parrett of West De Pere tied for 58th with a 159. Connor Ness of Bay Port tied for 48th with a 157.
Kewaunee’s Evan MacCaux tied for fifth place in Division 3 with a two-day total of 155.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Vince Sigl of Seymour at WIAA high school boys golf state championships
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