Red Wing's Cecil Belisle will play in NCAA Tournament as a member of the Kansas men's golf team
May 7—Red Wing's Cecil Belisle should be used to it by now, but he will get the opportunity to play in another big golf meet.
Belisle is a senior on the University of Kansas men's golf team. The Jayhawks have qualified for the NCAA Tournament and they will play in the Rancho Santa Fe Regional in California, as the No. 11 seed, from May 13-15.
This marks the eighth straight year the Jayhawks have earned an NCAA regional berth. This will be the second straight year Belisle has played in the region tournament.
Belisle is in his second season at Kansas after playing two years of junior college golf. He won back-to-back NJCAA Division II individual national championships and led his South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, Ariz.) team to a national team championship in 2022.
During his first season at Kansas in 2023, Belisle finished third on the team with a 73.09 scoring average per 18 holes. This year he has been even better. Belisle is a close second on the team with a 71.94 scoring average. He was also the individual meet medalist at two events during the regular season.
Belisle, who has posted a low round of 66 this season, recently tied for 18th at the Big 12 Championships meet with a 2-over par score for 72 holes.
Last summer Belisle tied for eighth at the Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Championship when he shot six-under par for 54 holes at the Minneapolis Golf Club in July.
Belisle has won some of the biggest golf events held in Minnesota.
In high school, he was a two-time Class 2A individual state champion. He has won the Minnesota State Open once (2021) and the Minnesota Golf Association Players Championship twice (2020, 2022).
He has also qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship each of the past three years.
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Carson LaPlante, the son of Brad LaPlante, has committed to play college football at Division II Northern State University.
Brad LaPlante is a native of Chatfield and a former football coach at Rochester Community and Technical College. He was the head coach of the Yellowjackets for seven seasons, from 2004 to 2010. He then moved to Texas and became the head football coach at Hutto High School. LaPlante is currently the athletic director at Hutto.
Brad's younger brother, Brian LaPlante, is the highly successful men's basketball coach at RCTC.
Carson LaPlante was a three-year starter at Hutto, the final two as a wide receiver. He is 5-foot-9, 165 pounds and has run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds. He had 42 receptions as a senior. Over his final two seasons, he accounted for 762 all-purpose yards and seven touchdowns.
He was also the long snapper for punts, field goals and extra points. He was a starter at defensive back as a sophomore.
Carson LaPlante had originally committed to playing at Winona State University but decided to switch to Northern State.
Guy N. Limbeck is a sports writer for the Post Bulletin. His Local Notebook appears each Tuesday. He can be reached at glimbeck@postbulletin.com .
