NorthWood Golf: Panthers Can’t Quite Repeat On Bremen’s Day At Warsaw Sectional
WARSAW — The way NorthWood head coach Adam Yoder sees it, some things are just meant to be.
Watching Bremen’s performance at Saturday’s Warsaw Girls Golf Sectional, there certainly seemed to be a touch of destiny to the Lady Lions’ first-ever sectional championship.
Bremen senior Lexi Miller edged out NorthWood number one Mackenzie Weaver in a one-hole playoff for low medalist honors, and the ultra-consistent Lions dethroned the defending champion Panthers on a fifth-score tiebreaker as both carded 353 at Stonehenge Golf Club. NorthWood lived to fight another day at next week’s East Noble Regional, though, as did Warsaw, which carded a 377 for third place and the final team ticket out to regional.
As the last scores trickled in, all Yoder could do was tip his hat to Bremen.
“Some things are meant to be, and today was one of those things,” he said.
“Bremen’s team played better than us today; there’s no question about that. They deserved to win.”
The Lions’ consistency won the day as three Bremen golfers — Caitlin Myers, Bailey Fritter and Sarah Knepper — all carded scores of 91, Miller shot 81 on her way to the individual title, and replacement Hannah Rowe fired a 90 playing in the fifth spot in Bremen’s lineup. Those three 91s trumped a 109 from NorthWood’s Abigail Richner, and the green and black made history with a program-first sectional title.
The championship has been a long time in the making for Bremen’s four seniors. The Lions have been steadily working their way up the standings since joining the Warsaw field in 2013. The team finished seventh at Stonehenge in 2014, fifth in 2015 and fourth last season, placing just on the wrong side of the bubble, 14 strokes away from a regional berth.
“We’ve been going for quite awhile,” explained Bremen head coach Don Harrison. “This senior group, I think their overall record from the time they were freshmen is about 65-6. When we transferred to the (Northern Indiana Conference), our record was 50-4 during those years, and the NIC record was 33-3 and we only lost to Penn those three years. So we’ve had a really great run with this group of girls.”
“Four years us seniors have been trying. This year we had such a good team, and we were coming in strong thinking about it. We knew we could do it, and we did it today,” Miller echoed.
While the Lions undoubtedly earned their accolades Saturday, some stars aligned to help make it all possible.
First was Rowe moving up to replace usual number five Olivia Kelty in Bremen’s lineup after Kelty was sidelined with a torn tendon in her wrist. That injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Rowe more than rose to the occasion.
“She shot well on the front nine when we first went out and really came back in and pulled it together on the back for a 90. She’s the one that won it for us, basically, with that last one coming in,” said Harrison of Rowe.
Then there was Miller’s playoff win over Weaver.
Last year, Miller won a playoff with Plymouth’s Nicole Horvath for the third individual berth out of sectional. That playoff on the 18th hole helped prepare the senior for Saturday’s low medalist showdown on the final hole at Stonehenge. In fact, Harrison said Miller’s approach was practically identical to the one that earned her a regional qualification in last season’s playoff.
“She came up and said she knew what she was doing, and if you were to plot all five strokes this year compared to last, they’re almost exactly the same, almost dead the same. So she knew pretty much what she had to do,” said Harrison.
The experience helped prepare Miller mentally as well.
Weaver put the pressure on early with a perfect tee shot over the water hazard and onto the middle of the fairway on 18. Miller played it safer on her own tee shot, steering clear of the hazard and driving just into the rough on the far side of the fairway and well short of Weaver’s ball. But both hit their second shot wide right of the fairway, Weaver grimacing as her shot flew just a few yards farther than Miller’s. Miller’s chip sailed over the pin, leaving her a downhill line to the cup, while Weaver’s next shot took a hard bounce and kept rolling onto the far fringe. Her second chip left her facing a roughly 15-foot putt, and she wound up two-putting. Miller’s first putt rolled true for par, and, after a tearful embrace from her mother, the Bremen senior’s teammates came running down the hill from the clubhouse to congratulate her.
“My sophomore year I lost qualifying to regionals by three. Then last year me and a Plymouth girl tied, and we had to play off to qualify for the third spot so this year was the year I was kind of feeling it,” said Miller.
“It was going to be what it was going to be. I just had to remember to stay calm, breath and just play the game I know.”
While Weaver carded 81 for individual honors and Abigail Richner shot 109 for NorthWood’s fifth score, Madison Richner gave the Panthers an 85, Abby Slabaugh shot 92, and Hope Cripe carded 95.
The Panthers’ play after the turn left the door open for Bremen, and in particular, a troublesome 12th hole derailed the team round as NorthWood’s top four went a combined 14 over on the hole. The good news for the team is that the Panthers played their way back into East Noble for a fifth straight year. And who knows? Saturday’s runner-up team finish may actually be a help to NorthWood next weekend.
“That’s always the goal: We want a chance to win the conference, and we want a chance to play in the regional. We did that,” said Yoder. “I’m pretty superstitious. The last two times we finished runner-up in the sectional, we went to state. We’ve never gone to state winning a sectional. Superstition, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”
Tigers take third
Warsaw’s lineup struggled early on its home course Saturday, but, as they have so many times this year, the Tigers stayed tough to grind out some pretty good scores at sectional.
Delaney Wihebrink shot 91 playing in the fifth pairing for Warsaw, Isabel Ray shot 93, and Madelin Ray carded 105. Miriam Hagg’s 108 was the team’s toss-out score, while Grayson Kilburn played through pain with 44s on both sides at Stonehenge, giving the Tigers a team-best 88 for the day playing in the fourth spot in the lineup.
“She’s getting surgery after the season on her hip so she’s not playing basketball, but she wanted to finish out the golf season,” said head coach Tad Nieter of Kilburn. “Man, on Hole 11 she was almost not going to make it, but she toughed it out and played phenomenal on both sides, 44, 44. I couldn’t ask for anything more from her.”
Warsaw’s 377 was the team’s best 18-hole score in Nieter’s three-year tenure. The Tigers’ third-place finish also represented their second straight regional qualification.
“It’s all about trusting the process. We keep saying that the last two years, and we’re really close to hitting that next tier in our development,” Nieter said. “If we can do that at regionals it’s going to propel us next year without having any seniors, so I’m excited.”
Triton and company close
Warsaw, NorthWood and Bremen grabbed the three team berths out of sectional, and Lakeland Christian’s Abigail Fishel earned the first regional appointment for individuals from non-advancing teams with a score of 90. Plymouth’s Brittany Klotz and Jennah Nifong accounted for the other two solo berths with respective scores of 91 and 93, and the rest of the field closed out the year in Warsaw.
Wawasee’s 405 left it just one place out of a regional berth, but the Warriors were nearly 30 strokes out of contention as there was a significant amount of separation between the top three teams and the rest of the field Saturday. Lesley Tayagua and Jadison Rostochak shot 98 and 99, respectively, Tate Cowan carded 101, and Zoe White shot 107. Number one Belle Brunner struggled uncharacteristically with a 121, meanwhile.
Triton’s 441 left the Lady Trojans in sixth place. Alysha May led her team with a 106 playing in the third flight, and Whytnie Miller was close behind with a 107. Megan McFarland carded 109, and Kate Gardner shot 119, while Delanie Groves turned in a 120.
It wasn’t quite the way Triton wanted to finish a strong season, which saw the team win a first-ever Hoosier North Athletic Conference championship, improve on last year’s win total by five with 15 victories and break 200 for just the second time in school history.
“I’m disappointed with the way we’re going to finish today after playing so well the last week and then playing here at Stonehenge, where we’ve played a lot. So from one aspect it’s kind of ending on a sour note, but overall it’s been a very good year for the girls and I don’t want to take anything away from them in that aspect,” said Trojans head coach Jack Carpenter.
Whitko closed out the year with a 527 for eighth place. Summer West shot 121, Erin Starkweather and Makayla Compton both finished four strokes back, Lilly Owsley turned in a 156, and Kayce Sims carded 163.
Tippecanoe Valley’s 548 left the Vikings rounded out the standings among teams fielding complete scores. Makayla Sandbakken paced the squad with a 109, Jordan Krotke shot 127, Bethany Johnson finished in 144, and Kelsey Shafer’s 167 completed the team score.