A second home invitational took over the home course for Wayne High girls golf.
From the Wayne Country Club, WHS welcomed 18 other girls golf programs from JV to varsity competition on Thursday.
After sitting tied for third through the first nine holes with a 196, the Devils finished strong on the back nine to win the Richard Metter Invite with a 364. Wayne High shot a 168 on the back nine, 28 stroke improvement to win by six shots.
Head Blue Devil girls golf coach Josh Johnson said, “today (Thursday) was a lesson in ‘grinding it out’. Joslyn and Carli played pretty steady throughout the day and were the rocks that kept us going on the front nine when others were struggling a bit. Joslyn found herself in a huge battle with her group for the top individual medal and she fought hard all the way to the end. Charli, Lindsay and Hallie had their ups and downs, but they really put some great stretches of golf together when we needed them to do so. They were all able to bounce back from adversity and struggles to help lead us to victory.”
Following Wayne’s 364, Columbus Scotus was in second (370), Laurel-Concord-Coleridge took third (385), West Holt placed fourth (386) and Battle Creek rounded out the top five teams with a (404).
Wayne was led by a runner-up finish by Joslyn Johnson with an 81 (42/39) as Carli Canham took fifth on a four shot improvement from the back nine (90), Lindsay Niemann placed 11th improving by 12 strokes on back nine (96) and Charli Sievers took 13th thanks to a nine shot improve on the back nine (97).
Other Blue Devil results came from Hallie Heithold missing a medal by one stroke (102), Rylynn Owen (116) and Claire Reinke (149).
Coach Johnson added, “it was truly a team effort today (Thursday). Rylynn played a steady round of golf today and is getting better each day. She is working so hard and her game is really starting to click. Claire was able to put together her best round ever today too and is learning so much so fast. All in all, I was extremely proud of how they never gave up and fought all the way to the last putt. That is what we will need to make the final push through conference, districts and state.”
LCC was led by Clara Brummels in sixth place (91) along with Harper Bruning in 12th place (96). Also earning a medal for the Bears were Holly Patefield (16th) and Skyler Swanson (17th) both shooting a 99.
The top individual golfer was Daleni Knust from West Holst with a 79 among the 87 golfers.
WHS will compete in the Mid State Conference outing on Thursday, Oct. 3 in O’Neill before hosting Districts on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
