KENDALLVILLE – It was going to take an extraordinary day to qualify for golf state. A fortunate few will live to see another week after NorthWood’s team and Wawasee’s Mikala Mawhorter were able to rise above at Saturday’s East Noble Girls Golf Regional.

NorthWood shot a 325, which set an all-time low score for the program, and Mawhorter shot a 75, the finest round of her high school career, to qualify for the IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals. NorthWood finished second in the team chase and Mawhorter was second overall in the individual category. It will be the second time to the state finals for both Mawhorter and the Panthers.

Wawasee’s Mikala Mawhorter shot a 75 to qualify for the state finals next weekend. (Photos by Mike Deak)

“I just got into the game, and let it happen,” Mawhorter said. “The word I’m going with is ‘smooth’. Every time I went up to address the ball, I just went ‘smooth, smooth’ and don’t kill it.

“I’m really proud of myself for having the chance to go back to state.”

Mawhorter had three birdies on the day, needing just two shots to birdie the 17th and closed her round with a par on the par-five 18th. Mawhorter shot a 39 on the front side and closed with a one-over 36 on the back side.

Wawasee didn’t close nearly as well as a team as it started. The Lady Warriors shot 167 on the front side and were right in the mix in the team chase. The 36 Mawhorter pitched helped, but a 173 on the back settled Wawasee at a 340, landing in fifth in the team chase.

Aubrey Schmeltz finished at 82, Kylee Rostochak an 89, Madison Beaman a 94 and Kamryn Foy a 96. The Lady Warriors, which finished the season 16-1 and champions of the Warsaw Sectional, had nothing to be ashamed of, according to head coach Steve Coverstone.

“I thought we played well today, it’s a tough golf course,” Coverstone said. “Scores were really good. I thought 340 would give us a chance to get out, and it didn’t. We had a great year at 16-1, sectional champions and something they can take with them forever. We would have liked to have made it out, but as it turned out we were 11 shots out.”

NorthWood’s Mackenzie Weaver tries to coax a chip shot into the hole during her career round of 77.

NorthWood’s second trip to the state finals had a career-best from freshman Mackenzie Weaver, who shot a 77, highlighting its round. Weaver had a pair of birdies on par-threes and didn’t shoot anything higher than a bogey. Linnzie Richner was her usual consistent self, studying the course all day to compile a 77.

Summer Stillson was also steady at 80, Madison Richner had one of her finer rounds at 91 and Abby Slabaugh posted a 105 in her first regional.

The Lady Panthers, which dealt with heartbreak all offseason after missing the state cut by two strokes last year, were 10 strokes back of regional champion Penn, which shot a 315. The Kinsgmen were paced by Cassidy Jurkaites, tournament medalist at 71. Leo returns to the state finals with its 329, buoyed by a fifth-man score of 95 by Emma Kurtz to trump Homestead’s 329 and 99.

Also qualifying for state are individuals Amber Nelson of Norwell and Kinley Lingenfelter of Rochester, both shooting 75, Sarah Frazier of Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger at 76 and Sydney Willis of South Adams at 77.

Madi Graham of Warsaw posted her best-ever round of 80.

Locally, Plymouth was ninth at 357. Notable from the Plymouth round was a hole-in-one from Morgan Oberley, who cleared the valley on hole 11 and rolled in the 124-yard shot. Oberley shot an 85, Randi Dunn had an 80, Katie Johnson a 91, Katie McDonald a 101 and Lauren Kolter a 106.

Manchester finished 17th at 428, with Kelsey Eichenauer at 97, Leiah Brandenburg at 104, Lydia Little at 112, Madyson Ulrey at 115 and Madison Hire at 129.

Warsaw’s Madi Graham shot her finest 18-hole score ever, posting an 80. Graham ran into some trouble on the front nine, shooting a 43, but rallied with just three bogeys and ended her day with a birdie on 18 to finish up her junior season.

“I have improved so much this year that I am happy with where I am at right now. It’s OK,” Graham said. “I worked a ton on my short game and my chipping was horrible (earlier in the year). I worked on fixing that and it showed. Things just started coming together.”

Tippecanoe Valley was represented by Victoria Biddle, who also lowered her best score. After setting the mark at the Three Rivers Conference, then the sectional, Biddle closed her season with an 89. A birdie on the par-three 15th highlighted her day.

West Noble’s Paige Shearer wrapped up her season with an 85, getting in some trouble on the front nine but managing a 40 on the back nine.

The IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals will begin Friday at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel. The two-day tournament will take the top 15 teams and 25 individuals from the five feeding regionals from across the state.