Sports Editor

Tonya Gnewikow can see how close her Tomah High School girls golf team is getting to the area’s golf elite.

“We were in fifth place, but we were just three strokes away from third,” Gnewikow said after her team competed in the non-conference 10-team Arcadia Invitational Thursday at Trempealeau Mountain Golf Course.

Tomah finished just four strokes behind its season-long nemesis, La Crosse Central/La Crosse Logan. The Timberwolves weren’t that far behind Onalaska (25 strokes) or Holmen (36 strokes).

Only Onalaska, Holmen and Tomah had three golfers break 100 on the 18-hole course. Tomah was led by freshman Dana Wagner, who shot a 93 and birdied the seventh hole.

Close behind was senior teammate Brianna Francis at 95. Francis birdied the eighth hole. Tomah’s other varsity scorers were Shelby Hoeft at 99, Mackylin Larsen at 105 and Megan McGinnis at 111.

“We ran into some water hazards again,” Gnewikow said.

Alli Plath, who has won every Mississippi Valley Conference match so far this season, sat out the meet with an injured hand. Meet medalist honors were shared by Onalaska’s Carmen Leponza and Grace Onsrud. Both shot 80s.

Team scores: Holmen 356, Onalaska 367, Central/Logan 388, Lancaster 390, Tomah 392, Arcadia/Cochrane-Fountain City 407, Westby/Viroqua 460, Gale-E-T 465, Wisconsin Dells 510, Prairie du Chien 587.