MEDFORD GOLF PREVIEW - Spots are there to be won in golf lineup with graduation losses
MEDFORD GOLF PREVIEW
The Medford Raiders welcome one strong golfer back to their varsity lineup and will gladly return to Division 2 for the WIAA post-season.
Beyond that, the 2025 season doesn't start with many certainties for fourth-year head coach Matt Haase as most of the crew he knew he could count on for consistency at the varsity level has moved on.
There is no shortage of candidates for Haase, assistant Caleb Heckel and JV coach Stu Amundson to sort through as the participation level has grown to 31 this spring. Those hopefuls have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of more spring-like weather since practice started March 31. It appears their patience is about to be rewarded. After some days of putting practice in the Medford Area Middle School library, Haase said the team was able to get a round of real golf in at Cadott on Friday and was on the verge of getting on the home courses this week ahead of the scheduled seasonopening meets next week.
Meet one is a varsity meet at Trappers Turn in Wisconsin Dells Monday. The varsity and JV squads are scheduled to play at Marshfield Tuesday. A full second week of competition features a new two-day event at the Wild Rock Golf Course in Wisconsin Dells, the Medford Invitational at Black River Golf Course on April 24 and the team's annual trip to the MACC Fund Invitational, hosted by Hartland Arrowhead on April 26.
The Raiders come off a 2024 season where they finished fifth in the Great Northern Conference. Seniors Connor Lingen and Riley Viergutz both advanced to WIAA Division 1 sectional play. Lingen now plays for UW-Stout's men's team.
Their departures, along with another varsity mainstay from last year Aidan Ball, open up opportunities this year.
One spot is filled by the return of senior Zach Hintz. He was unable to play last year, but he's back and hoping to return to form after he earned second-team All-GNC honors in 2023 and honorable mention in 2022. Hintz was a WIAA Division 2 regional champion in 2023 and was one stroke from qualifying for state in 2022.
“Having Zach back is big for us,” Haase said.
There are five seniors on this year's roster, two of whom got some varsity time last year. Grant Neubauer played in 12 varsity meets and scored as low as 87 at Trappers Turn. Alex Wanke played in five meets, including the regional meet at Marshfield, where he shot a 50 in a rainsoaked nine-hole event. His best varsity round was a 95 in the Medford Invite. Haase said Wanke will be tough for anyone to bump out of the varsity mix this season. Evan Fechhelm is back for a fourth year in the program. He was the team's Most Improved Golfer a year ago. Jason Woller is the team's fifth senior.
Sophomore Cooper Klingbeil is a likely candidate for varsity play after he forced his way into the mix last season. He played in 10 varsity events, including five conference meets. He had a low round of 89 in a GNC meet at Northland Pines and had other solid rounds in the low 90s.
From there, Haase is anxious to see who emerges in practices and in the earlyseason varsity and JV meets.
“I would say positions four through 20 are really wide open,” Haase said. The full program roster is heavy on sophomores and freshmen. It includes two girls, Evie Beidel and Rylee Hartwig. Several members of Medford's hockey team are playing golf, which Haase said is intriguing. Among them is freshman Grady Crass, who posted one of the team's top nine-hole scores at Cadott Friday. Easton Ackerman, a sophomore is another player Haase mentioned as one making a bid for a varsity look. Returning golfers in the program include juniors Cole Pernsteiner and Ashton Behling, sophomores Parker and Trace Breezee, Fischer Thums, Fletcher Frombach, Xander Schmidt and Isaac Ulrich.
The rest of this season’s lineup candidates are junior Talan Mitchell, sophomores Madix Brooks, Adler Steinman, Preston Netzer, Blake Thorson and freshmen Jackson Mayer, Schanon Frahm, Atticus Winkler, Ben Byrd, Tanner Hubbard, Ian Roiger, Jacob Fleegel and Gavin Koplin.
In the GNC, the Lakeland Thunderbirds continued their dynasty last spring, winning their sixth straight title and all seven GNC meets. The Thunderbirds went on to win the WIAA Division 2 state championship. They do lose three first-team All-GNC golfers who have been key to their recent dominance in Jack Rubo, Matt Haggart and Grayson Wagner. It will be interesting to see if Lakeland becomes vulnerable this year with those losses.
The graduations of Lingen and Mosinee's Jett Walters mean there will be an entirely new All-GNC first team this spring. Viergutz, a second-teamer, was the lone senior among last year's second-team and honorable mention golfers. Mosinee finished second in the GNC team standings last spring, while Rhinelander and Northland Pines tied for third. Medford finished ahead of Tomahawk and Antigo.
This season's GNC competition starts May 1 and 2 at Mosinee and Tomahawk. The individual and team standings will be finalized Monday, May 19 when Medford hosts the seventh and final meet at Black River Golf Course.
After its one year in Division 1, the Raiders will get back to their more familiar Division 2 competition with the regional meet hosted by Maple Northwestern at Hidden Greens North on Tuesday, May 27. Hayward is the sectional host a week later. WIAA state competition returns to University Ridge in Madison this year after being held the last three years at Blackwolf Run in Kohler.
