CARMEL — Senior Delaney Wade shot a two-over-par 74 Saturday at Prairie View Golf Club to win all-state honors, leading the Penn Kingsmen to a seventh-place finish in the 51st Indiana High School Athletic Association Girls State Golf tournament.
Coach Katie Bella’s team, ranked No. 12 in the final Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association poll, improved by 10 strokes with their 326-shot performance. It lifted the Kingsmen from ninth to seventh with their 662 two-day total, 54 strokes behind top-ranked Carmel. The Greyhounds defended their title totaling 608, nine strokes better than No. 4 Westfield, after a final-round total of 301.
No. 2 Homestead finished third at 622, 13 shots ahead of No. 5 Noblesville with No. 3 Center Grove was fifth at 642 and No. 7 Floyd Central sixth at 653.
Opening day: Westfield one ahead of Carmel in girls state golf; Penn 9th, Northridge 12th after first round
“I’m proud of our score today — this is a tough course,” said Bella, whose team won its own sectional and then the Sandy Pines regional and was hoping for a Top 10 finish in the state finals. “We knew what we needed to do today to get better. We kept it steady the whole round. More putts were dropping today and fewer penalties. It all helps. Delaney played well today. She was steady all day. She’s been a great leader for us all four years.”
Coach Ken Brewster’s Northridge Raiders finished their first state tournament appearance in 12thplace among the 18-team field. The Raiders, ranked No. 13 in the final IHSGCA poll, also improved on their Friday score, finishing seven strokes better Saturday at 346 for a two-day total of 699.
Sophomore Alex Reschly shot a final-round 80 and finished at 166, tied for 42nd place, to lead Northridge. Reschly went out in four-over 40 with a birdie helping to overcome a pair of double bogeys. She made four bogeys on her home nine to take team honors.
“We played solid today,” Brewster said of his Northern Lakes Conference champions. “Alex struck the ball well. She had a couple of holes where she made a couple of mental mistakes. She had a birdie putt on her 18th hole (No. 9) that she just missed from keeping her under 80.”
Westfield’s Samantha Brown, whose four-under-par 68 was the only sub-par round on Friday at the 5,782-yard Prairie View course, shot a two-over 74 Saturday and won medalist honors at two-under 142, four strokes ahead of four golfers — teammate Addi Kooi, Carmel’s Michaela Headlee, Batesville’s Ava South and Castle’s Ashley Kirkland.
Wade, who won four sectional titles in her Penn career and is headed to Wofford College next season, finished tied for 14th at nine-over 153, gaining all-state honors. She had consecutive birdies at Nos. 18 and 1 to offset four bogeys in her round of 74.
“My mindset today was to have fun,” Wade said after her round that included 12 pars and the two birdies and only four bogeys. “Today I told myself that this is my last high school tournament so make the best of it and have fun. I only missed a few fairways and today I was hitting greens, and I was a two-putting machine.”
No. 3 Penn player Clare Tobin, a sophomore, shot a six-over 78 to finish tied for 31st at 161. She was four strokes better than sophomore teammate Scarlett Biever, who finished tied for 165 after shooting an 84. Senior No. 4 Jill Daniels shot a final-round 90 and sophomore No. 5 Lilly Norris finished at 115.
“Clare was awesome today — she hit the ball great,” Bella continued. “Yesterday her birdie and par putts weren’t dropping. Today she was more confident and she had a chip-in birdie (at the par-3 146-yard 15th hole in an outgoing two-over 38). We lose two seniors, so we’re a young team next year (with three sophomores returning). We have a lot of potential.”
Senior No. 1 Karisa Dyer closed out her Northridge career with a 91 that left her at 178, two strokes better than teammate, sophomore No. 3 Lizzy Irving, who had a second straight 90. Irving’s twin sister Addy improved 20 strokes with her Saturday 85 and totaled 190, seven strokes ahead of sophomore No. 5 Macey Riegsecker.
“We’re really going to miss Karisa,” Brewster said. “The four who are coming back definitely want to come back now that they’ve made the state finals. They are not satisfied with how things went. You always want that out of a team.”
Sophomore Marley Dunham of South Bend Saint Joseph shot an 86 Saturday and finished tied for 50th at 170 in her first state finals appearance. The round included a back-nine 10-over 46 that Dunham, the medalist in the Northern Indiana Conference Tournament, could not overcome.
“Marley struggled on the greens and unfortunately got into some trouble on the back nine,” Saint Joseph coach Theresa Fry said. “But she kept her composure on the back nine when she got into some trouble and showed a lot of maturity. She’s really broken through with her short game this year. Her touch around the greens and her putting have improved greatly. She has such a great future.”
51st IHSAA GIRLS STATE GOLF TOURNAMENT
CARMEL – Results after Saturday’s final round at the par-72, 5,782-yard Prairie View Golf Club:
Team scores: 1. Carmel 307-301—608; 2. Westfield 306-311—617; 3. Homestead 313-309—622; 4. Noblesville 315-320—635; 5. Center Grove 325-317—642; 6. Floyd Central 333-320—653; 7. Penn 336-326—662; 8. Franklin Community 330-337—667; 9. Zionsville 334-339—673; 10. Carroll (Fort Wayne) 343-331—674; 11. Hamilton Southeastern 339-347—686; 12. Northridge 353-346—699; 13. Kankakee Valley 366-363—729; 14. Bedford North Lawrence 375-369—744; 15. New Palestine 383-374—757; 16. Jasper 375-387—762; 17. Terre Haute South 381-384—765; 18. Chesterton 393-415—808.
Top 15 individuals: 1. Samantha Brown (Westfield) 68-74—142; T2. Ashley Kirkland (Castle) 74-72—146, Ava South (Batesville) 73-73—146, Michaela Headlee (Carmel) 73-73—146 and Addi Kooi (Westfield) 73-73—146; T6. Paige Giovenco (Floyd Central) 76-73—149 and Claire Swathwood (Carmel) 75-74—149; T8. Lynne Zhang (Culver Academy) 77-73—150 and Scarlett Senk (Homestead) 77-73—150; T10. Abbey Peterson (Warsaw) 76-75—151, Karolyn Teglia (Culver Academy) 73-78—151 and Josie Kelley (Noblesville) 74-77—151; 13. Taylor Larkins (Carroll-Fort Wayne) 76-76—152; T14. Rowan Pies (East Central) 81-72—153 and Delaney Wade (Penn) 79-74—153.
Area team scoring (players’ finish in field in parentheses)
7. PENN (336-326—662): Delaney Wade 79-74—153 (T14); Scarlett Biever 81-84—165 (T38); Clare Tobin 83-78—161 (T31); Jill Daniels 93-90—183 (T76); Lilly Norris 107-115—222 (T103).
12. NORTHRIDGE (353-346—699): Karisa Dyer 87-91—178 (70); Alex Reschly 86-80—166 (T42); Lizzy Irving 90-90—180 (T72); Addy Irving 105-85—190 (84); Macey Riegsecker 90-97—187 (T81).
Area individual scoring (finish in field in parentheses)
Marley Dunham (South Bend Saint Joseph) 84-86—170 (T50).
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA girls state golf tournament at Prairie View GC
