October 8, 2023
The 2023 WIAA State Girls Golf Meet will take place on Monday and Tuesday at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison. The State Meet is a 36 hole event and the Fox River Classic Conference is well represented. In team competition, the Bay Port Pirates will represent the FRCC in Division 1 and the Notre Dame Academy Tritons will represent the conference in Division 2. In addition to the Pirates and Tritons qualifying their teams for the State Golf Meet, Vivien Ninham of Pulaski and Emma Cunningham of the Green Bay Preble Co-op qualified as individuals.
Bay Port is making its seventh consecutive trip to the WIAA State Girls Golf Meet as a team dating back to 2017. Their best finish was in 2021 when they placed 5th. The 2020/21 Bay Port squad placed 2nd during the alternate State Golf Meet held in May of that year because of the Covid pandemic. Adalyn Johnston is making her 4th consecutive appearance as a member of the Pirates and looks to improve on her 18th place finish from a year ago. As a team, the Pirates finished eleventh in last years meet and they look to improve on that finish as they return four of their members from a year ago. Other members of the Pirates include Ava Beranek who is making her third trip to the state meet and Chloe Strunk and Payton Dudra who were both members of last years team. Madelyn Gicius rounds out the Bay Port contingent making her first trip to the state meet. Johnston, Beranek, and Gicius were all First Team All-Conference in the FRCC this year. Strunk and Dudra were Second Team members.
Senior Vivien Ninham of Pulaski is making her first trip to the state meet having qualified as an individual. Ninham placed third at the Kimberly sectional with a 77 finishing behind fellow FRCC golfers Johnston of Bay Port and Cunningham of the Green Bay Preble Co-op. Emma Cunningham has qualified for her first state meet and comes out of the Kimberly Sectional as a medalist shooting a 72. Cunningham is only a freshman and her future looks bright. Cunningham and Ninham were also 1st Team All-Conference selections in the FRCC this year. Cunningham led the FRCC with the low score of 38.5 averaged over 9 holes in conference meets.
In Division 2, Notre Dame Academy makes a return to the State Meet. The Tritons have bounced around a little bit between Division 1 and 2 over the years and last year missed out qualifying for the state meet as a team in Division 1 by one stroke. Notre Dame last qualified as a team for the state meet in 2016 in Division 1. The Tritons also qualified in 2020 in Division 1 in the fall season when the tournament was split between the fall and spring because of the Covid pandemic. Notre Dame does have a history of success in girls golf as a member of the FRCC going back to 2006 (as a member of the Fox River Valley Conference) when they had a string of three consecutive State Championships in Division 1. Sophia Baek leads the Tritons and is making a return to the State Meet having qualified as an individual in 2022. Baek was 2nd Team All-Conference in the FRCC this year. Grace Schuh, Ella Gelb and Megan Gelb (Honorable Mention All-Conference selections) along with Eleanor VanHandel round out the team.
Good luck to all the golfers and teams! You can follow the action and live scoring at this link: https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Fall/Girls-Golf/Tournament
The Preview of the State Golf Meet put out by the WIAA can be accessed at this link: https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Fall/Girls-Golf/News/state-girls-golf-championships-preview-11
Bay Port Girls Golf Sectional Champions Division 1 – 2023. Photo: @BPGirlsGolf
Notre Dame Academy Girls Golf Sectional Champions Division 2 – 2023. Photo: @NDATritonSports
Emma Cunningham – Green Bay Preble Co-op – Sectional Medalist – Division 1 – 2023
Photo: @GBPreble
Vivien Ninham – Pulaski – Individual Qualifier State Golf Meet – 2023 Photo: @BPGirlsGolf[/caption]