No matter what scores they post, the players on the Wilmot golf team are ensured of making history at the 85th annual WIAA Boys State Tournament.

All they have to do is show up.

When James Rawlins tees off on the 10th hole at 7:27 a.m. today at University Ridge Golf Course in Verona, he will officially begin Wilmot’s first state appearance as a team.

The Panthers have had their share of individual state qualifiers, including 1981 medalist Charlie Winn (the only Kenosha County male golfer to ever win a WIAA state title), brothers Chad and Chris Cantwell and senior Kyle Cooke.

But until they finished second at last Tuesday’s eight-team Division-1 sectional at Johnson Park in Racine, the Panthers had never advanced this far as a group.

“It’s pretty cool for them. I’m happy for them,” said John Steffen, who coached Wilmot for 35 years until retiring after the 2008 season. “Kyle (Cooke) took me up there two years ago as an individual — he was really playing well — and then he hurt his hand before last season and really never got it going, couldn’t follow through. Now he’s getting it back.

“I’m very happy. I knew all those guys — good kids, a good group. So that’s what you like to see.”

Bradford’s Smith plays

Bradford sophomore Riley Smith will also make his state debut and tee off at 7 a.m. in the first group off No. 1. He shot a 79 at the sectional and won on the first playoff hole to earn the final individual qualifier spot.

It’s been a breakthrough season for the Panthers. In the last two weeks, they’ve won their first County Tournament title and finished second at the regional at Brighton Dale Links and again at the sectional.

Cooke (42-36) and fellow senior Michael Rawlins (39-39) each shot 6-over 78 and were the only players to break 80 as they shared medalist honors at the County Tournament.

Senior Cody Schmidt shot a 2-over 74 (36-38) and Cooke fired a 76 (38-38) to lead Wilmot at the regional. Cooke carried the Panthers with the lowest round of his prep career, a 2-under 70 (34-36), at the sectional in which his par putt for a 69 missed by an inch. He made two eagles, five birdies, five pars, five bogeys and one double bogey.

Cooke tied for 38th with a 157 total (76-81) at the 2008 State Tournament.

Sophomores Austin Vanderhoof and James Rawlins round out Wilmot’s lineup, with senior Tyler Stoller the No. 6 player.

“We still haven’t put our best rounds together as a group,” Wilmot coach Greg Olson said. “It’s been two guys here, two guys there and it’d be nice if we could get all five of them to shoot their best rounds here at state. That’d be great. It’d be the perfect timing for it.”

A few butterflies

Olson said he expects his players, who played a practice round early Sunday morning before racing back to attend graduation in the afternoon, to experience some nervousness, especially since for all but Cooke it’s their first time at state.

But Olson also said he anticipates them playing well, in part because perhaps the biggest challenge — just getting there — is behind them.

“My real expectations for the guys is that they just relax and enjoy themselves and play as (well) as they can play,” Olson said. “That’s when they play their best is when they relax and start having a little fun out there. I’m not super worried about where they finish.”

Notes

Three-time defending champion Hartland Arrowhead headlines the 16-team Division-1 field and is one of five schools to have won three consecutive team titles. No school has ever won four in a row. ... Wilmot’s Vanderhoof (7:36 a.m.), Michael Rawlins (7:45), Cooke (7:54) and Schmidt (8:03) will follow James Rawlins off the No. 10 tee. ... Tuesday’s Division-1 second round is scheduled to start at noon. ... Tee times, scoring, video and other tournament information is available at wiaawi.org.