With the Sleepy Eye United boys and girls golf teams primed to make another run, earn a Tomahawk-Valley Conference championship sweep and return to the Class A state tournament, several other Tomahawk Division teams are looking to knock them off and take their turn atop the conference.

Here is a breakdown of this year’s Tomahawk golf teams.

SLEEPY EYE UNITED

Once again a favorite to command the Tomahawk Division and Tomahawk-Valley Conference, the SEU boys and girls teams return a host of talented golfers from Sleepy Eye Public and Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s after making it to both the boys and girls state tournaments last year.

Boys: On the boys side, SEU graduated two strong hands in George Schwint and Josh Sellner, but a host of talent returns, led by Nolan Kucera.

Kucera carded a 39.8 nine-hole average last season and the promising young golfer enters just his freshman year of varsity golf. Junior Blaine Arneson (41.7), freshman Anders Coulson (42.2) and sophomore Isaac Christensen (44.4) can also be expected to lead this year’s boys squad. Christensen is a newcomer to the boys team this year but has been consistent with his play over the summer.

Girls: The SEU girls lost Chloe Walter and Caroline Currans to graduation last season but bring back top golfer Sam Price for her senior year. Price carded a 44.4 nine-hole average last year and is expected to again lead her team, along with seniors Kiara Murphy (49.7) and Ella Pollard (54.4).

Head coach Bryant Mages sees the Springfield girls giving his girls team the toughest competition, while he sees his team battling Springfield and Cedar Mountain for the Tomahawk-Valley boys title this year.

SPRINGFIELD

Boys: Paul Arnoldi enters his 14th year as head coach for the Springfield Tigers boys team and will have 10 JV-varsity boys on the team this year.

Senior Tayte Zihlke (49.4 nine-hole average last season) and junior Erik Davis (47) are the most experienced boys on the team this year and are two Arnoldi will be looking for to elevate their play this year. They are joined by fairly new golfers in senior Dylan Simonson and junior Braxton Brown, who can drive and strike the ball well but will have to learn how to score and avoid penalty strokes. Isaac Fredin is another newer golfer after joining the team last year as a junior.

The team graduated Braiden Davis, the boys No. 1 golfer and state qualifier who had a 42.2 nine-hole score last year, but they’re well-stocked with hungry Tigers looking to pick up the slack and possibly earn a varsity spot. Some newcomers and younger players looking to make that varsity jump include eighth-grader Blake Zihke, junior Colton Sell and sophomore Kallen Riederer, all first-time school players.

Arnoldi expects to see the SEU boys be the favorite in the Tomahawk and Section 2A.

Girls: Jennifer Schultz enters her fourth year as head coach of the Tigers girls golf team and will be lucky to bring back five returners without losing anyone from last year’s team.

Mavri Winkelmann enters her sophomore team after a strong freshman season that saw her finish All-Conference and second in the tournament. She also was second in the section last year, qualifying for state and ending the year with a nine-hole average of 46. Two other sophomores return to help Winkelmann and the Tigers take another leap this year in Ava Lipetzky and Kynslee Kastner. Lipetzky also made it to state last year after a sixth-place finish at the section meet and finished the year with a 51 nine-hole average, while Kastner was Honorable Mention in the conference last year and carded a 55.5 nine-hole average. Eighth-grade Annie Kuehn was Honorable Mention last season also, while eighth-grader Willow Krueger is one Schultz said not to count out as she put in quite a few rounds over the summer and dropped 10 strokes from the first round last year to this year’s start.

Schultz said SEU will be a fun competitor again this year.

NEW ULM CATHEDRAL

Boys: First-year New Ulm Cathedral head coach Tim Rahe will have a young group of golfers on the boys side after graduating four seniors last year. The good news is he’ll have a large group to help fill in for the graduated leaders.

Owen Strei is the biggest loss from last year’s boys squad as the 2025 grad finished last season as the All-Journal Boys Golfer of the Year, shooting a nine-hole average of 38.4. He was also the conference champion last season, Section 2A champion and finished 15th at the Class A state tournament. Will Marti (44.9) is another key name the Greyhounds graduated last year.

Back to lead the team this year is junior Carter Wilson, an All-Conference Honorable Mention from last season that shot an average of 46.9. Sophomore Carsten Haala, a New Ulm Eagles hockey player, joins the team this year to help out, while junior Jack Griebel will be another new face that could make a bigger impact. Juniors Andrew Bentler and Jack South, sophomore Patrick Gillis and freshman Levi Bailey complete the list of high school boys golfers for Cathedral.

Girls: Junior Emma Hoffmann returns as the Greyhounds top girls golfer after finishing last season All-Conference with an average of 55 per nine holes. Chloe Gilles is also back for her sophomore year after shooting a 63.1 nine-hole average last season.

Senior Megan Fingland, junior Cora Dagel and freshman Peyton Weisbrich are three more girls for the Greyhounds this year. Weisbrich got ample time as an eighth-grader last season and shot a 68 nine-hole average. Fingland is a newcomer who shot a 68 at Cathedral’s first meet of the year against Cedar Mountain this past Monday at the New Ulm Country Club.

GIBBON-FAIRFAX-WINTHROP

Boys: Cole Jacobson towers over most of the golfers he shares the course with at 6-7, and he also stands atop the list of returning leaders for the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Firebirds boys golf team. He shot a 46 nine-hole average last season and will look to improve a few strokes in his senior year alongside fellow senior Carson Lee, who finished last season with a nine-hole average of 47.9.

Junior Lincoln McCue (48.1) and Lane Olson (50.8) will also help lead the boys team this season.

Filling out the team of golfers is eighth-grader Brenden Lee (52.7), sophomore Wil Schmidt, sophomore Andric Rubendall and senior Landon Firle.

Girls: Anika Lee will be the top girls returner for GFW this season after averaging 54.4 per nine holes last season. The sophomore will be joined by fellow sophomores Kjerssa Jasinski (62.2), Grace Bunkers (62.8), Makayla Valentine and Maren Kemkes. Seventh-grader Hadley Doehling completes the team of girls golfers.

GFW lost its No. 2 girls golfer to graduation last year in Abigail Wilegal.

GFW head golf coach Ryan Jacobson said he expects SEU to once again be the team to beat in the Tomahawk with a talented group of young golfers.

CEDAR MOUNTAIN

Boys: One of the top returners in the Tomahawk and for the Cedar Mountain Cougars boys team this year will be senior Carson Schiller. Schiller averaged a 42.6 nine-hole score last season, with a Best 10 Rounds average of 40.2. He will be tasked with leading the boys this year in place of Blake Schueller, a 2025 grad who averaged a 40.6 last season per nine holes.

Several newcomers will be tasked with stepping up to help Carson Schiller, including junior Owen Dittbenner, sophomore Blake Koerner, freshman Saige Kokesch and freshman Isaac Potter. There are nine boys on varsity this season.

Girls: Bailey Woodford, a senior, will be one of Cedar Mountain’s top returners on the girls side with a scoring average of 54.4 per nine holes in 15 total rounds last season. Sophomore Claire Sherman is also expected to lead the way after 19 rounds saw her finish with a nine-hole scoring average of 54.1 last season and advance to Day 2 of the section meet at North Links with a 51.

Kendal Atkins is another sophomore who could step up this season for the Cougars. There are five girls on varsity this season.

Assisted by Mike Freitag, Jeremy Schiller is in his third year as the Cougars head coach. Coach Schiller said he sees SEU being the boys team to beat in the Tomahawk this season, while SEU and Springfield will be the top girls teams.

WABASSO

Boys: After last season saw the Rabbits boys finally able to record a team score after several years of being incomplete, the numbers are good again this season, giving 17th-year head coach Dave Blank something to smile about. Back this year are letter winners and seniors Avery Eis and Brayden Guetter, along with junior letter winner Chase Lensing and sophomore letter winners Paxten Guetter, Spencer Salfer and Bradyn Weidemann. Sophomore Tucker Larson, seventh-grader Treyvin Hansen and seventh-grader Kelten Steen join the fold also. Blank expects to see cousins Brayden Guetter and Paxten Guetter lead the team in scoring. Brayden Guetter averaged a 50.2 nine-hole average last season to lead, while Paxten Guetter shot a 58.2 average.

Girls: Blank shouldn’t have to worry about having incomplete scores for years to come with the amount of girls out for golf in Wabasso. He has eight returning letter winners, led by sophomore Alexis Jensen, who shot a top Wabasso girls nine-hole average of 58.6 last season. Joining her are three other sophomores in Heidi Foy (62.6), Josie Wiese (62.9) and Braylin Kampsen (69). Senior Jade Plaetz (68.2) returns, along with juniors Allison Jordan (65.6), Madelyn Fogelson (66.4) and Brooklyn Beadell (71.7).

Completing the deep girls roster are juniors Carlee Jenniges and Dunja Vasiljevic, sophomores Britta Brand and Kadei Wilkinson, freshman Madelyn Zollner, eighth-graders Brooke Brand, Samantha Foy, Mallory Selfe and Lauryn Weidemann and seventh-grader Elizabeth Novak. Jenniges is someone Blank sees as the top newcomer to the girls program.

Note: No information was provided for Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.