By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
Union Grove girls standout golfer Mari Suokko has proven to be one of the premier high school golfers in Southeastern Wisconsin.
Suokko has now proven to be one of the best in the state.
Suokko finished just one stroke behind first place Kailey McDade of Janesville Parker at a WIAA Division Sectional at Riverside Golf Course in Janesville Oct. 6 to punch her ticket to the state golf tournament.
With her state tournament qualification, Suokko became just the second golfer in school history to earn the trip to state.
“Mari was outstanding today, and despite the fact that she didn’t hit a lot of greens, she was able to get up and down a lot.” Union Grove girls golf coach Eric Swanson said. “No other player works harder than Mari, and I’m so happy for her that it has all paid off.”
Suokko overcame a double bogey with birdies on the first and tenth holes and never looked back from there.
Suokko’s impressive effort led the way for the Broncos, who finished fifth out of eight teams with a team score of 370. Milton won the sectional with a score of 328, while Mukwonago also qualified with a second place score of 353.
“As a team we did not shoot as well as we had hoped,” Swanson said. “We tend to struggle on this course (Riverside), especially on the greens, and today were not different. You just can’t 3 and 4 putt holes and expect to advance at this level against this competition.”
Other Union Grove performers included seniors Jorey Staven (95), Tara Manteufel (99), sophomore Sarah Schuster (99), and senior Emily Garbie (108).
“This marks the end of the road for our three seniors,” Swanson said. “When they were freshmen, they finished 7th in the conference, and then obviously adding a talented player like Mari, and later Sarah, made a huge difference, but we would not have had nearly the success we have had the past 3 years with 3 conference championships and a regional championship without these three girls working to get better. They will definitely be missed.”
The Broncos won’t soon forget the memorable journey that included winning a WIAA Sectional on its home course of St. Ives in Sturtevant last Thursday.
Union Grove’s winning score of 346 was five shots better than Mukwonago’s 351.
“Obviously we were ecstatic about winning this regional, Swanson said. “We shot a school record 346 and beat out some very good teams in winning just our second regional championship in girl’s golf.”
Suokko once again led the way for Union Grove finishing second in the Sectional with an 80, while Schuster finished third with an 84. Staven also had a strong showing with an 89, which was good enough for 12th place. Manteufel rounded out the Bronco finishers with a 93.
“Mari had a very steady round and ended up shooting the second best score of the day,” Swanson said. Schuster had an amazing back nine (39) to come in with a career-best score. And Jorey also had a career-best score (89) to really give us a boost. I couldn’t have been more proud of the team.”
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