Off to good start by taking second at Mosinee meet

MEDFORD GOLF

High school golfers in the Great Northern Conference were reminded Monday how unkind spring in northern Wisconsin can be when they convened for the first league meet of the season, held at Mosinee’s Indianhead Golf Course.

The Medford Raiders held up well in the cold, drizzly and windy conditions, carding a team score of 357 to place second behind Lakeland and 13 shots ahead of third-place Rhinelander.

The Thunderbirds, the overwhelming favorites to win their fourth straight GNC title, shot a solid 325 to easily win the meet. Antigo posted a score of 371 to finish one shot behind Rhinelander and take fourth. Mosinee (387), Northland Pines (412) and Tomahawk (453) rounded out the field.

“It was brutal conditions, probably 40 degrees and blowing 15-20 mph,” Medford head coach Matt Haase said. “It was definitely a mental toughness battle.”

Defending GNC Player of the Year Kaeden Nomm of Lakeland topped the field with a 5-overpar 77 and was one of three players to break 80 in conditions. Antigo’s Joey Volpentesta was a shot behind and T-Bird Jack Rubo shot a 79.

Sophomore Connor Lingen led the Raiders with a solid 85, good for fifth place behind Lakeland’s Cody Olson, who shot an 83. Raider senior Caleb Heckel was one shot behind Lingen with an 86. He tied Lakeland’s Teag Wagner for sixth. Medford junior Lucas Liske shot a 92, freshman Zach Hintz debuted with a 94 and sophomore Riley Viergutz finished with a 103. “I was happy with how everyone performed for the first meet,” Haase said. “We definitely have our areas to work on. We need to play a little bit more target golf off the tee. We re- ally haven’t had any range sessions, so ball striking could’ve been a little bit better and I saw a few too many three putts out there. So there’s lots to work on.”

The second GNC meet will be held today, Thursday, but the location has been changed to Medford’s Black River Golf Course, replacing Northland Pines as the host. The meet will start at 3 p.m. Medford’s Tee-Hi Golf Course will host the JV meet at 4:30 p.m. Pines will instead host the May 5 GNC varsity meet.

Friday’s Medford Invitational is still on and will start at noon, also at Black River Golf Course. The 18-hole meet is currently scheduled to feature Antigo, Lakeland, Rhinelander, Prentice and Marathon.

On Saturday, Medford will attend Arrowhead’s MACC Fund Invitational at Hartland. GNC play continues at Tomahawk on Tuesday, followed by the Nekoosa Invitational on Wednesday. Tuesday’s meet was initially going to be in Rhinelander. The Hodags will instead take their turn to host on May 10.