Pfingsten sets school record, wins Arlington Invitational
Published 2:56 pm Monday, October 5, 2026
Arlington High School sophomore Ava Pfingsten delivered a record-breaking performance on September 22, capturing first place and shattering the school record at the annual Arlington Invitational hosted at River Wild Golf Course.
Pfingsten carded a phenomenal 93 to top the individual leaderboard, anchoring a fantastic outing for the Eagles against a highly competitive 11-school field. The tournament featured Bergan Catholic, Elkhorn, DC West, Elmwood-Murdock, Syracuse, West Point-Beemer, Cedar Bluffs, Skutt Catholic, Blair and Bennington.
“It was awesome to see Ava get first and the school record,” said Arlington head coach Landon Walkenhorst. “She has put in a lot of time outside of practice and in the summer, and it is awesome to see the results show it.”
The Eagles demonstrated depth behind Pfingsten’s historic round. Aspen Smutz cracked the top 15, securing 15th place with a hard-fought score of 106. Rounding out the varsity scorecard for Arlington were Addison Thomas (124), Bella Wilcox (132) and Honora Andreasen (133).
The team’s collective upward trajectory has the coaching staff highly optimistic as the postseason rapidly approaches.
“I’m not just proud of Ava and her accomplishment, but proud of this whole team,” coach Walkenhorst added. “They have been playing great. I am excited to see what we can do at districts in two weeks.”
With momentum on their side and a newly minted school record in the books, the Eagles will spend the next weeks fine-tuning their games before taking the course for their district tournament.
