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Fort Recovery's Olivia Knapke chips the ball onto the green at the MAC girls golf tournament at Stillwater Valley. The Indians won the tournament to lock up the program's first-ever conference golf championship.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The Fort Recovery girls golf team went through the Midwest Athletic Conference match season unscathed. All that remained was deciding the overall champion at the conference tournament on Saturday at Stillwater Valley Country Club.
After 18 holes of action, the Indians came away with their first-ever conference golf title after edging Minster and St. Henry by one stroke to sweep the regular season and tournament titles.
The Indian girls joined the Minster boys in earning conference crowns. At the Mercer County Elks, the Wildcats, who tied Coldwater for the regular season title with matching 8-1 records won the tournament with by a 306-316 margin and therefore clinch the overall team title.
Fort Recovery finished with a 418, with St. Henry and Minster tying for second with matching 419s. St. John's was fourth with a 434 with host Versailles fifth with 442. New Bremen (452), Coldwater (468), Marion Local (473) and Parkway (494) rounded out the leaderboard.
Versailles' Ella Porter repeated as the MAC Girls Golfer of the Year after winning the conference tournament on Saturday at Stillwater Valley.
Playing on her home course, Versailles' Ella Porter had a dominating day, earning medalist honors with an 82 to lock up her second straight Golfer of the Year award based on points earned during the season and tournament. Parkway's Shay Boroff was runner-up with a 93 followed St. John's Faith Cross (96), Fort Recovery's Olivia Knapke (98) and St. Henry's Haley Lange rounding out the top five with a 100.
Joining Knapke in scoring for the Indians were Mallory Evers (105), Georgia Wenning (107), Emma Will (108), Evvie Briner (126) and Eva Kahlig (153).
Lauren Heitkamp led Minster with a 101 with Eleanor Sommer shooting a 103 and Stella Mummaw carding a 106.
St. Henry added a 105 from Lillian Rockwell and a 106 from Nora Moeller. Ava Watercutter shot a 108.
Ali Trego led New Bremen with a 105 with Vivian Trejo shooting 114 and Skylar Lochtefeld carding a 115.
Kate Hemmelgarn's 110 led Coldwater with Madison Bruns shooting a 112 and Ella Kaiser carding a 122.
Marion Local was led by Natalie Kuess's 115 with Emma Smith shooting a 116 and Grace Brunswick carding a 120.
Amanda Barrett added a 129 for Parkway with Morgan Louth and Alex Carpenter shooting 135 and 137 respectively.
Fort Recovery coach Jeff Vaughn received the Coach of the Year award that goes to the conference champion.
While most of the MAC teams will take part in sectional play on Tuesday at Moose Landing, Fort Recovery and Versailles will be at Stillwater again on Wednesday for Southwest District sectional action.
Fort Recovery's Reece LeFevre won a playoff to earn tournament medalist honors at the MAC boys golf tournament at the Mercer County Elks.
After Coldwater defeated Minster in the teams' final MAC match of the season, the conference tournament became a true championship match with the Cavaliers and Wildcats paired up in the same groupings.
Minster came through, shooting a 306 to Coldwater's 316 to lock up the overall conference championship, the 16th in program history.
Fort Recovery finished with a 318 for third with St. John's at 319 for fourth. St. Henry (330), Parkway (355), Marion Local (344), Versailles (345), New Knoxville (363) and New Bremen (395) rounded out the leaderboard.
The battle carried over into the contest for tournament medalist and Golfer of the Year honors as Minster's Bryce Prenger and Louis Magoto and St. John's Tyce McClain were the favorites for the top honor.
Medalist honors came down to a playoff after Prenger and Fort Recovery's Reece LeFevre each finished with an even-par 72 with McClain one stroke back at 73. Prenger and LeFevre went back to No. 18 for the start of the playoff. LeFevre parred the hole while Prenger bogeyed, giving LeFevre medalist honors.
Minster's Nick Prenger shared MAC Boys Golfer of the Year honors with St. John's Tyce McClain.
The runner-up finish meant that Prenger and McLain finished tied in the points, sharing Golfer of the Year honors.
Magoto and St. John's Parker Will tied for fourth with matching 74s. Coldwater's Briggs Howell, Fort Recovery's Keegan Muhlenkamp and Marion Local's Grant Kremer each shot a 75 to tie for sixth.
Max Voisard added a 76 for Minster with Andrew Wiss shooting an 84. Coldwater added a 76 from Tyler Overman and a 79 from Oliver Vickery.
Caleb Smith shot an 85 with Colson Post adding an 86 for Fort Recovery. Zach Rindler led St. Henry with a 75 with Jack Buschur carding an 81 and Hudson Schmitz finishing with an 85.
Rylan Lyons' 82 led Parkway with Eli Schumm and Mason Schumm shooting 83 and 87, respectively. Marion Local added an 83 from Trent Homan and 93s from Austin Niekamp and Carter Kuess. John Gabel shot a 78 for New Knoxville with Matthew Anspach shooting 92 and Colton Gabel 95 for the Rangers. Austin Heckman and Brady Blickle shot matching 94s for New Bremen with Bryce Voress carding a 97.
For his team winning the MAC, Minster coach Jeremy Magoto received Coach of the Year honors.
Sectional play takes place Thursday for Northwest District Division II and III teams. Coldwater will be at Moose Landing for Division II play while other MAC teams will be at the Division III sectional at Colonial Golfers Club in Lima.
Fort Recovery, having finished fourth at the Division III Southwest District sectional last week, plays in the district on Sept. 30 at Pipestone. Versailles's Brayden Wagner qualified in Division II as an individual and competes Oct. 1 at Pipestone.
