KENDALLVILLE — The girls golf season came to a bittersweet end for a half dozen golfers from Warsaw and Wawasee.

The Warsaw team concluded its fine season with a 357 and fifth place at the East Noble Girls Golf Regional while Wawasee freshman Mikala Mawhorter had her individual season end with an 87 on the Cobblestone Golf Course. The regional was played Monday because of inclement weather that forced players off the course Saturday, the restart bringing a clean slate for the entire field.

Warsaw had one of the toughest assignments of the regional, but one of the best looks playing with No. 3-ranked Penn, champion of the Penn Sectional, and a very good Fort Wayne Dwenger team, which won the Angola Sectional.

It took a little while for Warsaw to get going, but thus was the case for most of the field, including the Lady Kingsmen. Warsaw as a team were 46 strokes over par as a team after four holes, but soon settled down and found themselves in a dogfight near the finish with Homestead, Marion and Rochester for the final two spots.

Alexis Manwaring finished 18 with a par to conclude her day at 83 to lead the Lady Tigers, and was just two strokes off of a potential playoff for the final individual position to advance to state.

Nikki LaLonde recovered from a bumpy front nine score of 46 to shoot a 41 on the back side, and an 87 for 18 holes.

Elizabeth Meadows had an interesting day following her medalist round at Stonehenge last week. After laboring through a triple bogey on three after finding the woods on her approach, Meadows was just one over the final four holes of the front side. Other than a couple blips on the back, her 90 actually was quite functional.

“If you can play the first three holes and get out with fives, and then just get to number four, you’ll do OK,” Warsaw head coach Chris LaLonde said. “I got out there and was like, ‘what happened?’ It looked like we just tensed up. It looked like they stopped breathing in between shots and just panicked. It certainly took a toll on our scores early on.”

Morgan Sands concluded her senior campaign with a 97 that had her just one over on the four par-threes over the Cobblestone course. Fellow classmate Ashley Murrell struggled mightily from the outset in taking a 64 over the first nine, but settled in for a 51 to wrap her career at 115.

“I’ll chew on this a little, but we’ll learn from it and use it as a plus when we come out stronger next year,” LaLonde said. “Nikki, Elizabeth and Alexis will have this experience to grow on, and we’ll have to find a couple people to fill Morgan and Ashley’s spots. We’ll learn.

“This is a learning experience. I think the girls were pretty disappointed when I saw them on the bus when I told them the scores that made it to state. We’ll take this experience and grow, and hopefully make it back here next year to try to get to state again.”

Wawasee sent a lone individual to the regional in Mawhorter. Admitting afterward that she would have rather just gotten it over on Saturday, Mawhorter still shot a very steady round of 87, going 43 on the front side and 44 on the back nine.

Mawhorter was one of a handful of girls on the golf course Saturday when the inclement weather forced postponement.

“I thought today I would have done better, since Saturday there was hail and sleet,” Mawhorter said. “It was the wind that got me today. My second shots were killing me, and I didn’t do as well putting.

“I thought I did pretty good for a freshman,” Mawhorter continued. “This is the first huge event for me. I knew a lot of the girls at the sectional, so it didn’t seem like as big of a deal. I didn’t know either of the girls I played with today. Coach (Bruce Jackson) just told me to go out there and have fun with it. All I can do now is just get better for next year.”

Mawhorter played her Monday round with Lauren Read of LaVille, who shot a 91, and Nicole Norton of Fort Wayne Concordia, who finished her day with an 85.

Jackson, who assisted head coach Steve Coverstone all season but served as acting head coach as Coverstone was not able to make it to the regional, agreed with the principle Mawhorter expressed.

“I think the rush was gone of advancing to the regional having to come back out today,” Jackson said. “The scores across the board today were pretty good. Her lack of experience probably got her on a couple of holes, but all in all, she represented the school and her team very well. She fought all the way to the end.”

Penn claimed the regional title with a 323, led by Nikki LaLonde’s playing partner Kari Bellville’s 73. Warsaw Sectional mates Rochester took second place with a 338 and Marion were third at 339, all punching their tickets to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course in Franklin next weekend.

Katherine Sharp of East Noble was the medalist with a super round of 71, and will lead a quintet of individuals to Franklin, joined by Anna Wilcoxson of South Bend St. Joseph (76); Mary Shipley of Fairfield (79); Melissa Greener of Fort Wayne Concordia (80); and Lindsey Budnik of Manchester, who beat NorthWood’s Heidi Morganthaler in a one-hole playoff as both players turned in 81s. Budnik beat Morganthaler by one stroke on the 18th hole playoff.

East Noble Girls Golf Regional (Par 72)

1. Penn 323
2. Rochester 338
3. Marian 339
4. Homestead 346
5. Warsaw 357
6. DeKalb 360
7. East Noble 365
8. Bishop Dwenger 368*
9. NorthWood 368
10. South Bend St. Joseph 374
11. Plymouth 377
12. Bellmont 380
13. Mishawaka Marian 385
14. Wabash 389*
15. Angola 389
16. Elkhart Central 395
17. Norwell 397
18. Manchester 398
*broke ties with fifth-player scores

Warsaw (357)
Nikki LaLonde 46-41-87
Elizabeth Meadows 44-46-90
Alexis Manwaring 43-40-83
Morgan Sands 50-47-97
Ashley Murrell 64-51-115

Rochester (338)
Karsten Lingenfelter 39-42-82
Kovenant Lingenfelter 39-51-90
Lauren Daugherty 41-42-83
Kaitlin Foust 44-40-84
Lindsay Mitchell 58-55-113

Plymouth (377)
Emily Berger 43-44-87
Lauren Rearick 52-46-98
Emily Denney 48-50-98
Morgan Oberley 45-49-94
Kelly Henderson 53-49-102

NorthWood (368)
Heidi Morganthaler 41-40-81
Kate Adams 51-50-101
Rachel Beebe 47-47-94
Linzie Richner 45-47-92
Kayla Stankovich 48-53-101

Manchester (398)
Lindsey Budnik 40-41-81
Jasmine Whitaker 51-52-103
Claire Barnett 50-49-99
Nina Smith 52-63-115
Erin Working 69-71-140

Penn (323)
Kari Bellville 36-37-73
Katie Willenbrink 42-41-83
Emily Song 44-39-83
Madison Chestnutt 44-40-84
Audrey Henderson 45-42-87

Local Individuals
Mikala Mawhorter, Wawasee 43-44-87
Lauren Read, LaVille 48-43-91
Teage Minier, Goshen 47-48-95
Mackenzie Toth, CGA 47-42-89
Sam Seibel, CGA 42-43-85
Kelsie Robison, Fairfield 43-51-94
Mary Shipley, Fairfield 40-39-79

For complete results from the East Noble Girls Golf Regional, visit ihsaa.org