THE STATE MEET: The 53rd Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls State Golf Championships will be held Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 14-15, at the University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wis. Competition will begin at 8 a.m. on both days. Sunday practice tee time assignments are available on the Girls Golf Tournament homepage of the WIAA website.
TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket prices for the State Girls Golf Championships are $9 per day plus online fees, and they are available to be purchased on-line on the WIAA website through GoFan, the WIAA ticketing partner, at: https://gofan.co/app/school/WIAA2.
STATE MEET STREAMED LIVE: The ninth and 18th holes of the WIAA State Girls Golf Championships will be streamed live without subscription on the NFHS Network at nfhsnetwork.com/associations/wiaa-wi or WIAA.tv.
THE FORMAT: The competition features a two-division format with 12 teams and 18 individual qualifiers competing in Division 1, and six teams and nine individual qualifiers participating in Division 2. Competitors play 36 holes, weather permitting, including 18 holes on each day. The lowest scores from the first day will have the later tee times Tuesday.
BY THE NUMBERS: There were 182 teams eligible for the Tournament Series with 109 in Division 1 and 73 in Division 2. There have been 27 different schools that have won State team titles, and there have been 35 different schools that have had individuals earn medalist honors. There have been nine golfers that have scored a hole-in-one during the State Tournament, and there have been two girls that have won four State championships during their prep careers, sisters Lindsay Danielson (2005-08) and Casey Danielson (2009-12) from Osceola.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED: The Division 1 field consists of the top two teams from each of the six sectionals, and the Division 2 field includes the top two teams from three sectionals. Eighteen individuals in Division 1 and nine individuals in Division 2 qualify as the top three players in each sectional that are not members of a qualifying team.
QUALIFYING TEAMS: The schools qualifying for the State Championship in Division 1 are Arrowhead, Bay Port, Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, DeForest, Divine Savior Holy Angels, Hudson, Janesville Craig, Kaukauna, Middleton, Prescott and Westosha Central. The team qualifiers in Division 2 are Catholic Memorial, Edgewood, Freedom, Hayward, Seymour and Spooner.
DIVISION 1 INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: The 18 individuals who have qualified for the State Championships in Division 1 are senior Karalyn Skinner of Altoona/Regis, senior Taylor LeMire of Appleton North, sophomore McKenna Nelson of Beaver Dam/Wayland Academy, senior Sarah Chaffee of Chippewa Falls/McDonell Catholic, sophomore Emma Cunningham of Green Bay Preble/East/Southwest/West, sophomore Rita Kuepper of Hartford, senior Jayeanna Palm of Holmen, senior Grace Knilans of Janesville Parker, senior Hallee Keuhn of Oak Creek, seniors Aubrey Westerman and Emerson Ihde of Oconomowoc, seniors Delainey Halverson and Addison Sabel of Oregon, sophomore Alana Keevers of Union Grove, junior Maren Wieme of Verona, freshman Reagan Piacsek of Waukesha South/North/West, senior Talia Schlindwein of Wausau East/West and senior Daniella Honkamp of Whitefish Bay.
DIVISION 2 INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: The nine individual qualifiers in Division 2 are senior Tennysen Makepeace of Aquinas, junior Belle Kongshaug of Colfax/Elk Mound, junior Lexi Marx of Ellsworth, freshman Aubrey Molaison of Lake Country Lutheran, junior Lynell Miller of Lancaster, senior Regan Hermanson of Marinette, senior Taylor Miller of Oconto Falls, junior Addison Kofal of St. Croix Central and junior Brooklyn Bussan of Southwestern/Benton/Cuba City.
LAST YEAR: Divine Savior Holy Angels won the Division 1 State team title with a four-player, 36-hole score of 641. Waunakee finished runner-up at 643. Individually, Izzi Stricker of Waunakee was the individual champion for the second consecutive season, finishing even with a score of 144. Prescott captured the Division 2 crown for the fourth straight year, finishing with a 36-hole total of 704. Notre Dame finished second place, three shots back at 707. Belle Kongshaug of Colfax/Elk Mound was crowned medalist with a score of 157.
INDIVIDUAL PREVIEW-DIVISION 1: Four of the top 10 finishers from last season’s championships return for a shot at the gold medal. Junior Payton Haugen of Brookfield East should again contend for the title after she finished runner-up last season following a seventh-place standing in 2022. Sophomore McKenna Nelson of Beaver Dam is back to challenge the rest of the field for medalist honors after she tied for third a year ago. Junior Ava Roesch of Divine Savior Holy Angels placed sixth last season after tying for 30th her freshman season in 2022. Senior Daniella Honkamp of Whitefish Bay was seventh last year after tying Roesch for 30th in 2022. In addition, senior Gabbi Matzek and sophomore Layla Salay of Prescott have moved up to Division 1 after tying for eighth last season in Division 2. Matzek also qualified in 2022 and placed 16th. Sectional champions, in addition to the aforementioned competitors with top-10 State finishes a year ago, competing to be in the mix for medalist honors are senior Sarah Chaffee of Chippewa Falls/McDonell; sophomore Camille DeLost of Westosha Central, who tied for 19th last year; sophomore Abby Henriksen of DeForest, junior Nina Lang of Arrowhead and senior Talia Schlindwein of Wausau East/West.
INDIVIDUAL PREVIEW-DIVISION 2: Junior Belle Kongshaug of Colfax/Elk Mound is the returning champion after finishing runner-up in 2022 as a freshman. She should again contend for the gold medal. Sectional champions, in addition to Kongshaug who was mentioned with the aforementioned competitors with top-10 State finishes from a year ago, seeking to challenge for medalist designation is junior Lynell Miller of Lancaster and sophomore Aubrey Molaison of Lake Country Lutheran.
THROUGH THE YEARS: In the first 52 years of the girls golf championships, Edgewood has won the most team championships with 15, all coming since 2001. The Crusaders won two championships when only one division was offered in 2001-02 and the first seven Division 2 titles from 2003-09. They added to their total with championships from 2011-14 and two more in 2018-19. Madison West and La Crosse Central are tied for the second-most team titles with five. The Regents won the first five championships offered from 1972-76. The Red Raiders won four consecutive State titles from 1990-93 and added their fifth in 1998. Appleton West, Arrowhead, Homestead, Middleton and Prescott have won four team championships. Osceola has crowned the most individual medalists with eight, and Madison Memorial is next in line with six individual champions.
NEED RESULTS?: Results are available on the WIAA website. Select the link on the Girls Golf State Tournament page to access the GolfStat results link for each division.
FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Receive updates of the State Girls Golf Championships on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaagolf. Also like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at wiaawi.
STATE TOURNAMENT APPAREL: Officially licensed apparel for the 2024 State Girls Golf Championships will be available exclusively at University Ridge during the championships.