State-bound 'Skins

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

The St. Henry girls golf team is state-bound again after finishing third at the Division II district tournament held Monday at Sycamore Springs Golf Course in Arlington.

The Redskins earned their third straight trip to the state tournament by shooting a 371. Defending state champion Lima Central Catholic won the tournament with a 334 while Huron took second with a 367. Shelby earned the fourth and final state qualifying spot with a 379.

"It was a challenging day on the couse," said St. Henry coach Wendi Moorman. "Our practice round on Sunday got rained out after nine holes, so we knew the course would be tougher today because it was wet. It played long and tougher than we've played before. The girls played well enough to move on."

The Redskins earned the trip in spite of having to use just four of the five players' scores after Calli Hemmelgarn was disqualified due to a scoring discrepancy through no fault of her own.

"That was a fortunate issue at the end of the match. No fault of Calli's at all," said Moorman, who noted that Hemmelgarn would have shot a 96 if not disqualified. "But it happened and rules are rules. We got four scores that helped us move on. That's why we're a team."

Helping the cause was junior Ellen Naumann, who matched her career-best with a 1-under 71 to earn district co-medalist honors with 2018 state co-medalist Kyleigh Dull of Kansas Lakota. Mary Kelly Mulcahy of LCC was third with a 73 while twin sister Erin Mulcahy tied for fourth with Gibsonburg's Sydney Leyerie after both shot a 76.

"Ellen played well today," said Moorman. "She had a fantastic day. She had a 36 on the front, shot one-under on the back. Things were going right today. Right as in correct, not the direction. Really proud of her and the team."

Alana Siefring shot a 94 with Claire Clune adding a 98. Gwyn Elking was the final scorer for St. Henry with a 108.

"We had a tough start on the front nine, but the girls really finished strong and played the back nine well," said Moorman. "I could tell they were frustrated with their front nine scores. They took care of things on the back nine and played solid golf."

Coldwater, the other local team competing, finished 12th with a 411. Laney Finke shot a 100 with Emma Eckstein carding a 101. Grace Buschur shot a 102 with Jordan Hemmelgarn carding a 108 and Sarah Diller finishing with a 109.  

The area's three individual qualifiers - Fort Recovery's Jalyn Bruns, New Bremen's Sarah Parker and Minster's Layne Voisard - finished tied for 20th with matching 91s.

Joining Dull as state individual qualifiers were Leyerle, Wayne Trace's Kenadie Daeger (84) and Kalida's Grace Miller, who won a playoff against Edison's Jordan Pruitt and Otsego's Olivia Jackson after all three shot an 85.

The Division II state tournament takes place Oct. 11 and 12 at the Gray Course at The Ohio State University.