Aubrey Schmeltz and her Wawasee teammates will be among the contenders at the East Noble Girls Golf Regional this Saturday at Noble Hawk Golf Course. Wawasee is seeking its second straight trip to the state finals. (Photos by Mike Deak)

KENDALLVILLE – It was a very close regional last year, and the same likely could occur again this Saturday at the East Noble Girls Golf Regional.

Randi Dunn and Plymouth will be looking for a spot in the state finals.

Wawasee reached the state finals for the first time in nearly three decades last year, and returned this year with a resounding sectional championship. In relative terms, Wawasee shot the lowest score – 332 – of any of the six champions entering the regional tournament on what is arguably the toughest course in the area at Stonehenge.

“Our girls just did a great job at the sectional,” said Wawasee coach Steve Coverstone. “Our No. 1 goal was to advance to the regional, but we were thrilled to win it.”

“We had been waiting for the day that all of the girls played well on the same day and that happened at the sectional. All of the girls have improved from last year and it’s been a good year so far.”

Wawasee will take an experienced group back to the regional as four of the five players in its lineup, seniors Mikala Mawhorter, Kylee Rostochak and Kamryn Foy and junior Aubrey Schmeltz, were there last year when the Warriors shot 341 to place third.

With the Lady Warriors will be old pals NorthWood and Plymouth, which all finished in the top three in the Northern Lakes Conference round robin, NLC tournament and the sectional, NorthWood winning the NLCs and finishing second at Warsaw, Plymouth third in each of the three. NorthWood boasts of superstar Linnzie Richner, who has been one of the top area golfers all season and was again Saturday, shooting 75 to medal the tournament.

“I think that there are probably 7-8 teams who could be in the mix Saturday for the top three spots,” said NorthWood coach Adam Yoder. “I expect us to be up there. We know that we have to take care of ourselves. I’m really confident in Linnzie and Summer (Stillson) and I have a lot of faith in our young kids. I think that they will play well in the regional. Our whole theme this week is to be committed to improvement.”

The Panthers were fifth in the regional a year ago after shooting 343.

Joining the regional from the Warsaw Sectional are individuals Kinley Lingenfelter from Rochester, who looks to return to the state finals for the second year in a row, Warsaw’s Madi Graham and Tippecanoe Valley’s Victoria Biddle. Graham was the clear-cut top golfer for the Tigers this season, and makes her second regional as a junior after working with the Tiger team in 2013 as a freshman. Biddle, coming off a top-10 at the Three Rivers Conference Championships, makes her first regional.

Mackenzie Weaver and NorthWood are seeking its second appearance at state in the past three years.

“I know that Madi is extremely happy to be going back to the regional and I’m very proud of her,” said first-year Warsaw coach Tad Nieter. “She deserves to be there. She’s improved by leaps and bounds in just the last two months. It’s a testament to her desire to be great and her will to win.”

Some of the usual suspects will again be in the hunt to pull one of the top three places on the leaderboard to make the state finals at the Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel Oct. 2-3.

Leo, which won the regional last year by shooting 336, is back again after winning the Angola Sectional with a 337. Fort Wayne Dwenger, which also made state a year ago, joins in. Fort Wayne Carroll, Southwood, Homestead and Penn also won sectional titles. Also making the team field are Fort Wayne Snider, Huntington North, Manchester, St. Joe, Elkhart Central, East Noble, Columbia City, Bellmont and South Adams.

Individual medalists working the regional include Brooke Moser of Leo (74), Dayna Dale of Southwood (79), Cassidy Jurkaites of Penn (73), Kiersten Murphy of Fort Wayne Carroll (80) and Sydney Willis of South Adams (73). Area golfers also in the regional include Deb Jankowski of Mishawaka, Cate Tompkins of Northridge and Paige Shearer of West Noble. Tompkins and Shearer each shot a 92 at the East Noble Sectional, Jankowski a 102 at the Penn Sectional.

The East Noble Regional will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Noble Hawk Golf Course. The top three teams and top five individuals not on an advancing team will make the IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals to be played Oct. 2-3 at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.

Rochester’s Kinley Lingenfelter is looking for her second straight state final appearance as an individual.