Taylor Diemel was determined to pick up her game after a slump this season.
A lot of hard work later, and a few extra trips to Irish Waters Golf Course in Freedom, and the senior is bound for sectionals.
Diemel shot a 97, one of her best rounds of the season, at Irish Waters at the WIAA Division 2 regional Wednesday. She tied with Little Chute’s Katie Spaeth for 10th, taking the third of four individual qualifying spots for Monday’s sectional at Mid-Vallee Golf Course in De Pere.
“She really wanted to make it an opportunity for her,” Bonduel coach Lynn Schaal said. “She played well.”
Diemel is the first Bonduel girls golfer to reach sectionals since Bethany Voekler did it her junior season in 2010.
Freedom’s Lori Meyer (88) finished fifth overall to nab the first individual spot, Wrightstown’s Victoria Draxler (95) took the second spot by finishing eighth and Oconto Falls Brittany Russell (104) took the fourth spot finishing 18th.
Diemel, along with senior sisters Samantha Schaal and Elizabeth Schaal and juniors Danielle Lautenbach and Alex Brandt, hoped to go as a team, but rough play on the back nine dropped the team to sixth, with a team score of 430.
“We hoped we could go as a team,” said Lynn Schaal, who is Samantha and Elizabeth’s mother. “Elizabeth and Danielle fell apart a little bit. So we were left with Taylor.”
Lautenbach finished at 108. Elizabeth Schaal carded 110, Samantha Schaal 115 and Brandt 119.
While her teammates were struggling on the back nine, Diemel was playing her best. She tied with Lautenbach for 50 on the first nine holes, but shot a 47 coming back, better than all but seven golfers at the regional.
Diemel spent extra time at Irish Waters to improve her game, which she came to realize had slipped during conference play this season.
“She had a really nice round,” Lynn Schaal said. “She’s been practicing. She’s from Navarino, which isn’t that far from Freedom. She’s been going on the weekends and practicing for a while.”
Coach Schaal said Diemel, who missed sectionals her sophomore season by two strokes, started the year strong, but slipped as work and school responsibilities piled up.
“She had a hard time there for a little while,” Lynn Schaal said. “The last couple of weeks she decided she was really going to concentrate on her golf game going into the end of the season. Hard work paid off.”
Lynn Schaal said she was sad the team could not advance, but said the teammates are more than willing to support Diemel.
“The girls on the team are going to see if they can schedule it to go with her to practice,” Lynn Schaal said. “They want to be there with her and give her a little competition. Even though they are not going on, they want to practice with her.”
Fox Valley Lutheran (329), Seymour (400), Marinette (400) and Little Chute (407) qualified for the sectional as the top-four teams.
Noelle Koepp and Kayla Priebe, both of Fox Valley Lutheran, tied at 77 to earn medalist honors. Fox Valley Lutheran, which plays in the Eastern Valley Conference with Bonduel, had four of the top five golfers at the regional and five of the top seven.
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