WINONA LAKE – Wawasee’s Madison Beaman admits to being a little superstitious on the golf course.

One of her “routines” involves chewing gum when she hits a bad shot while playing.

Beaman surely did not go through much gum on Saturday.

The Wawasee junior and her teammates though did spend the day chewing up the course and the competition with an amazing championship performance.

The Warriors, under tough conditions, fired an outstanding 332 to dominate the field at the Warsaw Sectional contested at a windy and wet Stonehenge Golf Club.

Defending champion NorthWood, led by individual medalist Linnzie Richner, was runner-up at 344 and Plymouth was third at 375. Those three teams advance to the East Noble Regional next Saturday at Noble Hawk in Kendallville.

Madi Graham of Warsaw shot an 89 and Victoria Biddle of Tippecanoe Valley a 95 to earn regional berths as individuals.

The story on this day was all about the Warriors and their No. 5 player Beaman.

Beaman, the only different face in the Wawasee lineup from last year’s runner-up sectional team, was simply sensational. She fired an 84 on Saturday to be a difference maker as Wawasee won its fifth overall sectional title and first since 2010.

“I’m beyond happy,” said Beaman. “I just stayed calm out there today. I just wanted to stay as close to the 80’s as possible. I didn’t get off to a great start, but I said that I had to do this for the three seniors on our team. This is their last sectional and I wanted it to be the best one for them. I think that at the NLC last week (when Wawasee finished behind NorthWood) we were all nervous. Today we came out and played for each other.”

The Warriors’ score impressed many, including NorthWood coach Adam Yoder.

“What a performance by Wawasee,” said Yoder. “That’s a heck of a score, especially out here today in these conditions. Shooting 332 will win you a lot of sectionals. They had a great round. They are the most experienced group out here and they played like it. What Beaman did was pretty impressive.”

“A 75 today by Linnzie was real impressive. It felt more like a 70. She was just so solid. Winning a sectional is a great way for her to cap her senior year.”

Wawasee coach Steve Coverstone had been waiting for his team to all click on the same day. He got his wish on Saturday at the perfect time.

“Our girls just did a great job,” said Coverstone. “To see them play that well on a difficult course in difficult conditions is thrilling. They all should be very proud. It feels outstanding to win it.

“I could tell coming here today that we would play either really good or bad. The girls were quiet. Today was the day that all of them played well on the same day. We stayed away from the big numbers that had been killing us.”

Senior Mikala Mawhorter led the champions with an 81. Senior Kylee Rostochak had an 83 and junior Aubrey Schmeltz and Beaman each shot 84. Senior Kamryn Foy shot 104 for the Warriors.

Richner, who had been a sectional runner-up twice before, was pleased to be the top player this time around.

“It’s a huge honor and a big deal to me,” said the NorthWood standout. “It’s something that I wanted and that I worked so hard for. My goal was to go lower than last year (79) and I did that. I have a lot of confidence in my team and it’s kind of disappointing that we did not win. But we advance as a team and get another weekend.”

Summer Stillson shot an 84 and Madison Richner an 88 for NorthWood. Mackenzie Weaver finished at 94 and Abby Slabaugh 108 for the No. 19 Panthers.

The news for good for a young and vastly-improved Warsaw team. The Tigers finished in fourth place with a season best 18-hole total of 398. Junior Graham also moves on the regional as one of the top three finishers not from a regional qualifying team.

“We wanted to break 400 today and I’m just very proud of the girls,” said Warsaw coach Tad Nieter. “To have Madi advance is great. She has improved her short game so much and just has the confidence. I told them all how proud I am of all of them with the progress they made this season. They were committed to get better and I can’t wait for next year.

“A 332 by Wawasee here today is ridiculous. Hat’s off to them. Steve has been a member here for years and knows this course so well. They did a great job today.”

Page Desenberg came in with a 97 for the Tigers. Morgan Fuentes, the lone senior, had a 101. Delaney Wihebrink shot a 111 and Madison Martz 131 for the hosts.

Biddle led Valley, which shot 474, with a 95. Blake McBrier shot 116, Liz VanMeter 117, and Makayla Sandbakken and Lexi Cumberland each a 146 for the Vikings.

Triton shot 547 as a team, led by a 122 from Katie Gardner. Tessa Heaton shot 127, Kayla Kreft 129 and Samantha Edington 169 for the Trojans.

Claire Reiff shot a 118 to lead Whitko, which did not post a team score. Aurelia Slusher shot 127 and Alexis Rider 141 for the Wildcats.

Abigail Fishel of Lakeland Christian Academy shot a 126.