After getting an early season preview of the course, Wayne High was back in action at the O’Neill Golf Club this time for the Mid State Conference outing.
In total, 14 varsity and JV teams represented the conference on Thursday. Conditions brought high winds of 25 mph with gusts over 30 mph on the tough greens.
Wayne High shot a 397 to defend their Mid State Conference title winning by 30 strokes.
Head coach for Wayne High Josh Johnson said, “Today (Thursday) was a tough one. I told the girls at the beginning of the day that scores would be high in these conditions and they were. I was impressed how they all continued to grind it out on a very tough course. There were definitely some ups and downs but the girls all got the job done in the end. We just have to keep moving on from the bad shots and moving on to the next, keep our heads and spirits up the whole way.”
Following Wayne’s first place 397, Battle Creek finished in runner-up with a 427, O’Neill took third (433), Boone Central placed fourth (448) and Cedar Catholic rounded out the top five teams with a 453.
Wayne High was led by the individual conference champ and back-to-back champion being Joslyn Johnson with an 86 among the 51 golfers. Charli Sievers followed in fourth (95) and Carli Canham placed seventh (102).
Other Blue Devil results came from Lindsay Niemann (17th) and Hallie Heithold (18th) both with a 114. Wayne JV was led by Rylynn Owen in 16th with a 112 while Claire Reinke shot a 144 (46th).
Coach Johnson added, “Individually the girls really battled. Lindsay & Hallie fought hard and were able to put together a solid score each for us. Rylynn played awesome today (Thursday) on the JV side and would have been good enough to be our fourth today. She has really come a long way this year. Claire shot a personal best today (Thursday) and I couldn’t be any happier for her. She just keeps plugging away and is getting close. Finally, it is cool to have three medalists. Charli and Carli battled all day and hung in there to earn a medal. Joslyn played well all day and really battled it out to earn the Mid State Conference Champion medal. I’m so proud of all these girls today (Thursday).”
