GOSHEN — With three girls finishing in the top five, the Warsaw girls golf team won Saturday’s Northern Lakes Conference Championships at Goshen’s Maplecrest Country Club. Warsaw won the eight-team conference tournament with a 386, followed by NorthWood’s 389 and Wawasee’s. NorthWood won the overall conference championship by going 7-0 during the regular season, while Warsaw, Wawasee and Plymouth were in a three-way tie for second place at 5-2. Winning the regular season earns a team eight points, with each successive place finishing one point lower. The same then goes for the conference tournament. Once the tournament is played, the points are then added together to determine the final standings for the conference. Based on Saturday’s results, NorthWood won NLC with 15 points, Warsaw was second with 14 and Wawasee finished third with 12. Coming into Saturday’s match, Warsaw and Wawasee each needed to win the tournament and hope NorthWood finished third or lower to earn at least a share of the conference title. “I was thinking that way, but we weren’t talking to the girls about that,” Wawasee coach Steve Coverstone said. “We just wanted to treat this like another invitational and come out and play the best we could. They gave it the best they had and I’m happy with the effort. I’m not totally happy with the results, but they gave it everything they had. Getting third in this conference isn’t anything to be ashamed of.” Coach Chris LaLonde’s Warsaw team did get the first-place finish it needed, but NorthWood was 20 shots better than third-place Wawasee, meaning the Lady Tigers had to settle for second place in the NLC. But like Coverstone, she din’t put any added pressure on her girls. “I just told them to go out and play the golf course,” she said. “‘Just play the golf course and what happens, happens.’ I didn’t tell them to worry about anybody. I was worrying about that.” On the course, NorthWood’s Heidi Morganthaler was the medalist with an 8-over 79. Following Morganthaler, Warsaw senior Nikki LaLonde was second with an 88, classmate Elizabeth Meadows was third with an 89 and junior Alexis Manwaring’s 93 was good for fifth place. On the day, only seven girls finished with double-digit scores, a result of some tough greens according to LaLonde and Coverstone. “It was tough out there,” LaLonde said. “It was really tough, I think. You talk about the greens. They were fast and the pins were set in tough spots. The girls were hitting it up there and it would roll right back if they didn’t get it on the top level. It just played tough for everybody.” For Wawasee, junior Elizabeth Jackson’s 95 was the sixth-place score of the day, followed by sophomore teammate Mikala Mawhorter’s 96, good for seventh. “We didn't play as well as we would have liked,” Coverstone said. “The one bright spot was that Elizabeth and Mikala kept playing hard, and their mid-90s scores proved to not be that bad of scores today.” Another positive for Coverstone was sophomore Kylee Rostochak, who shook off a 57 on the front nine to post a 45 on the back, finishing with a 102, the ninth-best score of the day. “For her to shoot a 45 on the back nine, I thought was outstanding for a sophomore with no more experience than she has,” Coverstone said of Rostochak, who was named all-NLC honorable mention. “To be able to shoot a 45 on the back nine says a lot about her basic ability.” Wawasee’s other two scores were freshman Aubrey Schmeltz’s 116 and sophomore Courtney McDaniel’s 132. From Warsaw, junior Kristen Watson shot a 116 and freshman Madi Graham posted a 128. With the conference tournament now behind them, Warsaw and Wawasee now head into Saturday’s sectional at Stonehenge Golf Club, where the Lady Tigers are the two-time defending champions. “I think this makes them a little more excited about playing and getting ready for the tournament – knowing it’s going to be really close,” LaLonde said. “They’ve known it was going to be really close, but now they know it’s going to be even closer than they had thought.” While Warsaw’s looking for its third-straight sectional title, Wawasee will be trying to advance out this year, having finished fourth a year ago when only the top three advance to the regional “This shows us how hard it’s going to be to get out of that sectional,” Coverstone said. “You have NorthWood there, that beat us today. Warsaw’s there and it’s their home course. Rochester’s there and they’ve been state-ranked all year. Plymouth’s also there and they’re right behind us here. This shows us we’re going to have to play well to get out of that sectional.” Wawasee is off until Saturday’s sectional, but Warsaw hosts Whitko at Stonehenge Tuesday.
NORTHERN LAKES CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS Team Scores – 1. Warsaw 386, 2. NorthWood 389, 3. Wawasee 409, 4. Plymouth 416, 5. Concord 437, 6. Goshen 445, 7. Northridge 468, 8. Elkhart Memorial 487 (Maplecrest G.C., Par 71) Top 5 – 1. Heidi Morganthaler (NW) 79, 2. Nikki LaLonde (War) 88, 3. Elizabeth Meadows (War) 89, 4. Linnzie Richner (NW) 92, 5. Alexis Manwaring (War) 93 Warsaw – LaLonde 88, Meadows 89, Manwaring 93, Kristen Watson 116, Madi Graham 128 NW – Morganthaler 79, Richner 79, Summer Stillson 109, Rachel Beebe 109, Kayla Stankovich 113 Wawasee – Elizabeth Jackson 95, Mikala Mawhorter 96, Aubrey Schmeltz 116, Kylee Rostochak 102, Courtney McDaniel 132 Plymouth – Kelly Henderson 106, Emily Denney 104, Randi Dunn 105, Morgan Oberley 101, Katie McDonald 113 Goshen – Teague Minier 104, Claire Palczynski 115, Gale Immel 113, Morgan Leonard 117, Sara Rogers 113 Concord – Michaela Searer 105, Sammy Oberholtzer 110, Olivia Kauffman 119, Libby Gill 110, Erika Shirley 112 Memorial – Hannah Dillman 105, Ally Disher 121, Kaylen Byers 140, Chloe Klein 121 Northridge – Kelly Soard 115, Emily Thomas 104, Lucy Wisolek 122, Lexi Meskowski 127, Katy Plummer 154 All-NLC – Morganthaler (NW), LaLonde (War), Meadows (War), Richner (NW), Manwaring (War), Stillson (NW), Mawhorter (Waw), Jackson (Waw) All NLC Honorable Mention – Denney (Ply), Minier (Gosh), Henderson (Ply), Rostochak (Waw) NLC Coach of the Year – Adam Yoder (NW) Final NLC Standings – 1. NorthWood 15, 2. Warsaw 14, 3. Wawasee 12, 4. Plymouth 11, 5. (tie) Goshen, Concord 7, 7. (tie) Northridge, Memorial 3
