Panthers, Stillson Close In Sixth At State
CARMEL — NorthWood’s storybook season had an appropriately storybook ending at Saturday’s second round of the IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals.
The Lady Panthers cut six strokes off their first-day total, their 338 setting a new state meet program-low in the process, and both the Lady Panthers and top flighter Cybil Stillson finished in sixth place at the two-day tournament at Prairie View Golf Club.
“Thanks to the Prairie View Staff, IHSAA, IGA, and IHSGCA. This is an outstanding event,” said NorthWood coach Adam Yoder. “They do such great job. And we’re fortunate to have a lot of support in our community, both that came down this week and throughout the year. It was fun. It was awesome.”
Homestead held off defending champion Evansville North — which entered this weekend’s finals boasting four of the last five state titles — with a two-day total of 605 ahead of the Huskies’ runner-up score of 617. North sophomore Faith Johnson was able to leapfrog Homestead’s Madison Dabagia for the individual state championship with a 3-under 69 for a total score of 142, two strokes ahead of Dabagia.
Wood went a combined 25 over on each side at Prairie View to move from seventh to sixth place in the final team standings.
“We didn’t play as well as we wanted on the front today — we exceeded our expectations on the front yesterday — but we shot 10 shots better on the back today, and that was outstanding. It’s a good sign for our future. My two sophomores today shot 74 and 80, so they did outstanding,” said Yoder.
“I can’t say enough about our senior class. You look at their record over four years, it’s just so impressive. For them to come down here and finish sixth, in a one-class system it’s just phenomenal.”
Stillson paced Wood with a 2-over 74, birdying the par 5 18th to finish even par on the back nine at Prairie View. Her two-day tally of 149 kept her in sixth place overall on the individual leaderboard and earned her an automatic All-State nomination. That finish also represented an improvement of six strokes and seven places from last year’s state meet.
“She did outstanding. Honestly, she hit the ball better yesterday, but she didn’t putt as well. She made a lot of putts, birdied the last obviously, which was huge,” said Yoder. “Super talent, and her mental game has improved so much. She’s added more skill to her game, and that will have to continue if she wants to accomplish her goals.”
“Yesterday I felt like I was hitting the ball solid. Didn’t give myself many birdie chances, either yesterday or today, but I was able to make a lot of pars, which is what my coach wanted me to do. I did accomplish that — made a lot of pars, stayed away from big numbers, which is also very beneficial out here,” explained Stillson.
“I’m proud of my performance, proud of how I played these last two days and couldn’t really ask for anything better. If you told me on Thursday I was going to shoot a 75 and a 74, I would’ve taken that. Proud of this team and proud of what all we’ve accomplished this year.”
It was Stillson’s classmate Breanna Goss who showed the most improvement from day one to Saturday. After carding an 18-over 90 Friday, Goss fired an 8-over 80 Saturday — birdying the par 4 14th and 16th holes in the process — landing her in 37th place in the 100-player field.
“I thought she found something in her warm-up today. Hit her iron shots and her tee shots a lot better, much more consistent,” said Yoder of Goss. “She’s been fighting it a little bit the last couple weeks, but today something just clicked. And I thought she was a little more aggressive, too, and that helped. She’s a super player. Cybil gets a lot of our attention with the sophomore class and our whole team in general, but you look over the course of the year, her and Kirsten Schrock put up a lot of really good scores.”
Goss’ cousin Schrock birdied the par 4 No. 2 Saturday on her way to a 15-over 87, tallying a two-day total of 171. Twin sisters Makenna and Kylee Gall each shot 25-over in the first and second round, respectively, while Delaney Davis turned in a 29-over 101 on day two for a total of 194.
“Last year I got to play one day, and it was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot, so I was really looking forward to this year getting to play. I was really, really grateful for the opportunity to play again,” said Schrock of the experience.
“It was really fun to be back. It was especially special for me because I got to play this time; last year I watched. t’s just really fun,” echoed Kylee, adding with a laugh: “You feel so special when you’re down here, and you get endless food, so it’s great.”
NorthWood thus closes out a special season that saw the Panthers set record after record, perhaps most notably new nine- and 18-hole records as well as setting new Northern Lakes Conference Tournament and Warsaw Sectional marks.
It was a memorable season to close on for a strong senior class of four in the Galls, Schrock and Davis.
“We’ve all improved so much, and we’ve continued to improve throughout our careers. It’s weird because this season has been spectacular and we’ve done so well, but also we all have these high standards for ourselves so even when we go out and shoot our average or a little below average, we’re still seeking more. Even our record-breaking scores it still feels like we can do better,” explained Makenna. “And I think that attitude is what is going to keep moving the team forward.”
It was also a good, final ride for the tight-knit upperclass.
“I felt like there was less pressure this year to do well. We were just coming out to have a good time,” said Davis.
“It was historic as far as the results go, but what has been outstanding is just the kids that we have,” Yoder said. “They’re all great students in the classroom. They’re all great kids. They’re all supporting other players out here. They’re saying ‘Hey, I went and watched this player for a little bit, went and watched that player for a little bit.’ They want to be successful, but they also want to just be known as good people and I just respect that so much. Super year.”