Clippers Working to Defend Packerland Golf Title

Sturgeon Bay High School golf coach Erik Tauschek (back left) is working with 19 players this year. Photo by Craig Sterrett.

Numbers of players increased for most Door County high school golf teams this season. 

Gibraltar has 10 players, more than enough to field a five-player varsity team to record four scores and have a chance to compete for meet victories, said coach Matt Meacham.

In the previous two seasons, numbers held back Gibraltar, despite a second-place finish in the conference meet by Finn Salm and quite a few low scores by Teddy Roth, now a senior.

Roth and Salm, a junior, did some recruiting for teammates this year. At the first meet, they were joined in the starting five by Leo Frisoni, a senior; Aaron Greene, a junior; and Ivo Unkerfer, a sophomore. 

Both Roth and Salm played a few rounds of golf out of state over the winter to sharpen up for the season, Meacham said.

Coach Erik Tauschek has high expectations for Sturgeon Bay, the returning conference champs, as varsity leader and first-team all-conference player Tre Wienke returns. Wienke maintained a solid average of around 40 per nine holes last year and had a 40 to finish first in the second conference meet of the year.

The Clippers have plenty of golfers vying to start on varsity and junior varsity – 19 students went out for the team, which won its first four meets of the season. Tauschek looks to Calvin Richard, a senior, and Porter Rabach, a junior, to help keep the varsity scores low this year.

Southern Door’s Finley LaVine, a junior and already a two-time all-conference honoree, had a third-place finish in the conference last year.

LaVine finished at 1 over par in his first competition round this year. Tyler Plzak and James Zittlow are returning for the Eagles, whose varsity was rounded out this April by senior girls Ava Badovski and Carina Schumacher. 

Other Southern Door team members for coach Dustin Fritsch include seniors Bryce Starr, Noah Slamka, Yana Zenefski; sophomores Breanna Motquin and Danielle Schinktgen; and freshmen Emiah DeFere and Carter Heldmann.

Sevastopol coach John Miron has 16 student-athletes on the team. Two girls started on the varsity for the opening meet, senior and third-year player Jordyn Welch and Stephanie Felhofer. Daniel Castillo, a sophomore, played in the No. 1 spot in the opener at Cherry Hills. Miron said Frankie de Young, a senior, has been the team’s top player and can golf in meets when he doesn’t have a baseball game. Isaac Taturo and Chase Kanapka also competed for the varsity in the opener.

Three other girls joined the Pioneers. Sevastopol didn’t have a girls team in fall 2023.

Highlighted upcoming local meets include April 29 at The Orchards at Egg Harbor, May 2 at Peninsula State Park Golf Course and, a favorite of the players and coaches – an invitational the morning of May 14 at Horseshoe Bay Golf Club. 

Technically, Gibraltar is scheduled as the host of the conference meet at Wander Springs Golf Course in Wayside at 11 a.m. May 9.