PLATTEVILLE – Darlington junior Brogan Evenstad finished in a four-way tie for fourth-place to lead the Redbirds at the 2017 SWAL Boys’ Golf Conference Meet held at the Platteville Country Club on Tuesday, May 16.
    The Redbirds topped their best 18-hole score of the season by 33 strokes en route to a seventh-place finish at the meet with a team score of 400, and they also ended the SWAL season in seventh-place overall with 18 points.
    Evenstad carded a 47 on the front nine and a 41 on the back nine for a round of 88 to lead the Redbirds.
    Junior Seth Johnson shot a 49 on the front and a 51 on the back to finish 26th overall at 100, while freshman Cody Crist shot a consistent 51 on the front and back to finish with a 102 and sophomore Cole Roelli carded 58 and a 52 to come in with a 110 to complete the team scoring on the day.
    “The team certainly played its best 18-hole meet of the season. The result was keyed by the two underclassmen, Cole Roelli and Cody Crist. Platteville Country Club is one of the better tests of golf in the area and except for a couple of mental mistakes, those two young players played pretty consistent,” said head coach Rich Westerman.
    Freshman Atticus Stauffacher, the Redbirds’ fifth golfer, finished with a 132.
    Mineral Point won the conference meet with a score of 352 and also locked up first-place in the SWAL final standings with 65 points. Barneveld was runner-up at the conference meet (358), but could not overtake Argyle/Pecatonica for second-place in the final team standings as the Orioles (61.5) edged the Golden Eagles (61) despite their third-place finish at Tuesday’s SWAL Meet (367).
    “Lots of practice and plenty of golf rounds will need to be played over the summer for the team to move up the standings. The conference is loaded with very good young players,” noted Westerman.
    Mineral Point freshman Simon Mitchell shot a 10-over 81 to earn individual medalist honors at the SWAL Meet while guiding the Pointers to the team title.
    Argyle/Pecatonica senior Matt Amorose and junior Mason Holcomb finished second and third, respectively with an 82 and an 83, while Barneveld senior Seth Adleman and junior Austin Parks and Iowa-Grant junior Brady Peat joined Evenstad with an 88.
    Amorose, Peat, Mitchell, Holcomb and Adelman were all named first-team All-Conference, while Fennimore junior Cole Needham and Barneveld senior Lucas Evans joined Mineral Point senior Kaleb Pilling and juniors Madison Bowers and Riley Workman on the second-team All-Conference squad.
    Evenstad finished 11th in the final league standings to just miss earning a spot on the All-SWAL team. 
    Darlington will participate in the WIAA Division 3 regional tournament held at New Glarus’ Edelweiss Chalet Country Club on Wednesday, May 24, starting at 9 a.m. The top four teams and the top four who are not members of those teams advance to the Markesan Sectional Meet to be held at the Lawsonia Country Club in Green Lake on Tuesday, May 30, also starting at 9 a.m.

2017 SWAL MEET
Team scores: Mineral Point 352, Barneveld 358, Argyle/Pecatonica 367, Iowa-Grant 377, Fennimore 378, Cuba City 379, Darlington 400, Southwestern/Benton 433.

Final standings: Mineral Point 65 pts, Argyle/Pecatonica 61.5, Barneveld 61, Fennimore 37.5, Cuba City 36, Iowa-Grant 34, Darlington 18, Southwestern/Benton 11.

Meet Medalists: Simon Mitchell, MP, 81.

Darlington Scores: Brogan Evenstad 88, Seth Johnson 100, Cody Crist 102, Cole Roelli 110, Atticus Stauffacher 132.
At Platteville CC, par 71, on Tuesday, May 16