Hilltopper golfers take first at Webster Invite, finish as Dunn-St. Croix runners-up again

On Friday, May 10th, the Hilltoppers Golf team traveled to an invitational with nine other teams up to Danbury, WI to play Voyager Village. The course will feature the regional tournament this upcoming May 21st, so the Hilltoppers were looking to get a look at the course and the competition. 

According to head coach David Popko, the trip was “essential to our development as a team coming into the home stretch. We know the team needs to step up and play more challenging courses to get ready for the regional, our sectional, and possibly even state.” 

The Toppers indeed showed up, winning the tournament with a team score of 345, and the four scores counted in competition all broke ninety. As Popko would point out, “It was a tremendous day for us. We performed very well. We really hope that we can repeat this performance when we return in a week.” 

Individual scores for the Hilltoppers featured junior Esdyn Swenby with a second place 82, junior Charlie Lamb with a third place 86, senior Ben Wittmer with a sixth place 88, and sophomore Landon Obermueller with an 89 for seventh place. Brett Peterson senior also participated and learned about the individual challenges of a tournament course. That considered, Popko noted: “We had a great day. We can understand Brett adjusting to the course. He did get an eagle the day before. Sometimes golf is just like that.”

The closest competition Glenwood faced came from Birchwood which posted a 373, followed by Clear Lake at a 389, and Webster with a 393. 

When the Toppers return on May 21st, the regional will consist of many of the same teams with Luck/Frederic and Cumberland both added to the competition. It promises to be a good opportunity for the Toppers. As Popko and assistant coach Matt Lamb both pointed out, “We know that a regional is always a challenging competition. We have strong goals. Hopefully we can perform well a second time next week.”

The Toppers then returned to the home course on Monday, May 13th to host the conference championship at Glen Hills. The team did well on an exceptionally challenging day. The course conditions were quite challenging but the boys were ready for high-end competition. “The

course was not easy today. The greens were fast and the surfaces were quite firm. This makes for a very challenging day of competition. It definitely helps us prepare for the next step.”

The championship forced each team involved to scramble for strokes, as Durand ended up winning the day with a 339, Glenwood posted a 364, followed by Colfax/Elk Mound with a 369, Spring Valley with a 417, and Mondovi with a 430. This led the teams to finish in exactly this order for their final conference positions – with Glenwood finishing second.

Junior Esdyn Swenby led the Topper with a scorer of 84, senior Ben Wittmer shot a 88, junior  Charles Lamb finished with a 93, sophomore Landon Obermueller tallied a 99 and senior Brett Peterson carded a 109. 

Durand was awarded the conference championship, and three of their golfers finished in the first team All Conference category. Glenwood City was represented in the first team by Esdyn Swenby, and Colfax-Elk Mound by Zane Brice. Glenwood had three athletes featured in the All Conference second team category: Charlie Lamb, Ben Wittmer, and Landon Obermueller. 

The Toppers’ next meet will see them compete in the regional in Danbury followed the next week in Luck for the sectional if all things go well. As Popko noted: “We are going into the regional with a goal of winning it. Four teams move on to the sectional, so we fully expect to move on. We have a strong past few years at this point. We are looking to keep setting ambitious goals moving forward.”

If all goes well, the sectional will take place on May 28 in Luck, WI to determine if they go to state for a third year in a row as a team.