By Angela Kelm
Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Reedsburg, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s golf team captured its sixth consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title after defeating UW-La Crosse in a one-hole playoff. The Warhawks receive the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championships.
With a 30-stroke margin separating the top two teams from the rest of the field, the battle for the title was solely in the hands of UW-W and UW-La Crosse Sunday. UW-Whitewater erased a five-stroke deficit after the first round to take a two-stroke lead into the final day of competition at the Reedsburg Golf Course. The Warhawks traded the lead throughout the final round with UW-Whitewater coming in with their best round of the tournament, 314. The Eagles carded the best round of any team in the competition, a 312, to bring the three-day total for both squads to 971 forcing a playoff.
In front of a fantastic gallery cheering on both squads, Madi LaPaz (Oconomowoc, Wis./Oconomowoc) opened the playoff hole with a par. Kallie Lux (Janesville, Wis./Craig) and Lily Sheppard (Sherwood, Wis./Kaukauna) were up next for UW-W. Lux sunk a great putt for par while Sheppard carded a bogey. Elizabeth Johnson (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) and Ashton Sinak (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation Academy) also posted bogeys on the hole to put the pressure on the Eagles. The final two UW-La Crosse golfers had to hit their putts to force a second playoff hole. The Warhawks watched on as the putts didn’t fall securing UW-Whitewater’s sixth consecutive and eighth overall WIAC team title in program history.
Sinak shot the best round of any golfer in the entire tournament, carding a 72 Sunday, the fifth-best round in championship history. She finished as the runner-up with a 54-hole total of 234 (77-85-72). Johnson finished sixth with a total of 241 (79-80-82) followed by Lux’s 244 (85-82-77) for a share of seventh. Sheppard finished 14th with a three-day total of 253 (89-81-83). LaPaz posted her best round Sunday with an 83 for a 54-hole total of 257 to tie for 23rd.
Grace Westerman (Oconomowoc, Wis./Oconomowoc) was the top finishing Warhawk competing individually. Carding rounds of 79-90-79, Westerman tied for 11th. Teammates Haley Myers (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) and Abbie Reiser (Washington, Ill./Washington Community) tied for 15th, each finishing with a three-day total of 254. Jennifer Berardi (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) and Emma Norton (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) posted rounds of 86 and 85 respectively to finish with a 258 to tie for 25th. Lauren Winter’s (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) 54-hole total was 261 to tie for 29th. Jessica LaBerge (Bonduel, Wis./Bonduel), UW-Whitewater’s representative on the All-Sportsmanship Team, finishing among the top 50 with a total of 274.
The Eagles finished second followed by UW-Stout (1002), UW-Eau Claire (1023), UW-Stevens Point (1033), UW-River Falls (1043), UW-Platteville (1051), and UW-Oshkosh (1067). UW-Eau Claire’s Lexi Meade won the individual title by one stroke with a total of 233.
The Warhawks earned the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship slated for May 9-12, 2023, at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.
