VERONA – Lancaster senior Josh Hentrich wrapped up a very impressive high school golf career last Tuesday afternoon with a seventh-place finish at the Division 3 boys state golf championship held at University Ridge Golf Course.
Hentrich is certainly no stranger to the golf course outside of Verona, where he made his fourth appearance in as many years, finishing this year’s event with a 36-hole score of 157.
As a freshman back in 2014, Hentrich shot a 166 to finish in a tie for 18th place, then tied for 25th among division 3 golfers as a sophomore with a 175. Last season as a junior, he finished 14th with a 164.
Since falling to division 3 in 2011, the Lancaster boy golf program has qualified for the state meet five times as a team, and in the last two years, Josh has qualified as an individual.
His score of 157 ranks fourth best of recent Lancaster rounds at state, just behind his brother Zach (149 & 152), Andrew Gates (154) and Nathan Farrey (154).
Josh’s first day of competition on Monday afternoon proved to be a little rougher than he had hoped, where he took a 42 on the front nine and a 40 on the back to finish with an 82 in consistently windy conditions.
After taking a bogey on the first hole, Hentrich followed up with a birdie on the second and then a par on the third.
In the final six holes on the front, Hentrich shot six over with one par, four bogies and one double.
On the much tighter back nine, Hentrich started out with three straight pars, getting one-putts on 10 and 12. He then took a bogey on the 13th and a double on 14 before paring three of the last four holes.
His 82 on the first day still had Hentrich among the top 10 in the division 3 field, as he was sitting tied for eighth with the leader nine strokes ahead.
On the second day, Hentrich’s round began on the back nine, were he recorded birdies on the par-four 14th and the par-5 16th. He also had five pars on the back, but took a bogey on the par-4 10th and a double on the par-4 18th.
Finishing the back with a one-over-par score of 37 had to give Hentrich confidence going into the wide open front nine, where he started off with three straight pars.
A bogey on the par-4 fourth hole and another on the par-3 fifth still only had Hentrich at three over after 14 holes, which he followed with a birdie on six and a par on seven.
With only two holes remaining in this final high school round, Hentrich was sitting just two over on the day, and finished with a bogey on eight and a par on nine for a three-over-par round of 75.
While Hentrich placed seventh at state and just missed out on making the medal stand, Mathew Higley of Eleva-Strum won the D3 individual state title with a two-day score of 150.
St. Mary’s Springs won this year’s D3 team title with a two-day score of 648, which was 27 strokes ahead of second place Eleva-Strum.
Hentrich will next take his golfing talents to Edgewood College, where he will join his brother Zach in golfing for the Eagles.
* Hentrich, along with Lancaster teammates Morgan Seippel and Isaac Farrey, also earned Academic All-State honors from the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin, Seippel earning high honors.
To be honored, student/athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25, participate in at least 75 percent of their team’s varsity matches, and are a sophomore or older.
This season there were a record 395 students from 129 different high schools to be named to the Academic All-State team, who had an average GPA of 3.724.
