Heckel, Lingen finish among the upper tier of golfers at sectional

WIAA DIV. 2 GOLF

Caleb Heckel and Connor Lingen knew going in they were long shots to advance from Tuesday’s WIAA Division 2 Black River Falls golf sectional, but that didn’t stop them from turning in solid rounds to end their 2021 seasons.

Heckel, a junior, shot an 11-over-par 83 at the Skyline Golf Course to tie Andrew Bauer of McDonell-Regis and Blu Anderson of Amery for 14th place out of the 72 golfers who played the course Tuesday and his best 18-hole score of the season. One tough hole may have been all that separated him from an 80 as he got an eight on the par-4 14th.

Otherwise, Heckel played par and bogey golf on 16 of the 17 remaining holes. Five pars put him at just 4-over-par on the par-36 front nine. That included pars on the par-5, 480-yard third hole and on the par-5 537-yard fifth hole. He parred six of the nine holes on the back nine, including two more par-5s and two par-3s. He double bogeyed the par-4 12th hole.

Lingen, a freshman, shot a 15-overpar 87. He hit a groove on the front nine, parring the par-4 sixth and seventh holes and the par-3 eighth while carding a 45 on the front nine. His 42 on the back nine, included a birdie on the par-4 12th, which is just under 360 yards. He finished with pars on the par-3 17th and par-4 18th.

Heckel and Lingen finished second and third among the 12 individual qualifi- ers from last week’s Northwestern, Somerset and Arcadia regionals behind Isaac Welle, a senior from Baldwin-Woodville, who shot an 82.

Great Northern Conference champion Lakeland won the sectional championship with a team score of 323, five better than Black River Falls, who also qualified for state.

Trent Meyer, a junior from Northwestern was the individual medalist with an even-par 72, one shot ahead of Black River Falls junior Mike Antonelli. Osceola senior Jacob Hall qualified for state with a 75, one shot ahead of Lakeland’s Kaeden Nomm, Evan Anderson of Black River Falls and the third and final individual state qualifier, sophomore Ben Biskupski of McDonell-Regis.

After Nomm, Lakeland got an 81 from