Noblesville beats defending sectional champ Southeastern by two strokes
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
NOBLESVILLE – The Noblesville girls golf team ended a decade-long drought on Monday.
The Millers won their own sectional, which took place at Harbour Trees Golf and Country Club. Noblesville finished just ahead of defending champion Hamilton Southeastern, winning by two strokes, 316-318. The two teams monopolized the top of the leaderboard, taking seven of the top eight places.
“The goal is to advance, but winning is always great,” said Millers coach Justin Werkley. “Probably didn’t play our best today, but good enough to get it done.
Noblesville had three of the top four individuals, beginning with the medalist. Senior Caroline Whallon finished first with a score of 75, a round that included two birdies.
“It’s awesome,” said Whallon. “It feels really great, just to see how much I’ve improved since my freshman year and especially seeing the team and how much we’ve developed these four years. It’s just really nice to see us and me individually come out with a win.”
“She’s played great all year, so it’s no surprise that she was the best player out there today,” said Werkley.
Freshman Josie Kelley tied for second with a 77, also making two birdies along the way. Jordan Adam tied for fourth with a 78, draining one birdie. Olivia Fowler made a birdie as well. Noblesville won its 18th sectional title in program history.
“It was a tough day,” said Werkley. “The conditions were tough. The course was soft. The wind was blowing. It was just a gut-it-out type of round and do the best you can and see how that adds up at the end.”
The Royals had a consistent day among all of their golfers. Lauren Stewart also tied for second with a 77, making one birdie. Janelle Garcia placed fifth with a 79, and Cora Zink carded an 81, with two birdies. Makenna Watson also had an 81 with one birdie.
“We want to do as well as we can, but at the end of the day, we really want to be playing next week,” said Southeastern coach Steve Guenin. “We focused on a couple of things while we were out here, like improving from last week, because we were able to play out here last Saturday. Also, what can we do to get better for next week, how do we use this? So they did a nice job. We did a lot of nice things.”
The Millers and the Royals both advance to Saturday’s Lapel regional, which takes place at Edgewood Golf Club in Anderson. The top three teams move on to the regional, along with the top three individuals not on an advancing team. Lapel’s Macy Beeson, the defending state champion, carded an 81 to take the first of those three spots.
Fishers also advanced to the regional, finishing in third place with a 381. Olivia Holding led the Tigers with a 91, making two birdies along the way. Sarah Majeski scored a 94, getting one birdie.
“We had our ups and downs. We had good shots and bad shots,” said Fishers coach Danny Smith. “But we did what we needed to do to get out of this sectional. It’s a tough sectional.”
Hamilton Heights finished with a 440. Kaylee Rhoton led the Huskies with a 100.
AT HARBOUR TREES
Team scores: Noblesville 316, Hamilton Southeastern 318, Fishers 381, Lapel 412, Frankton 412, Tipton 416, Pendleton Heights 438, Hamilton Heights 440, Alexandria 496, Elwood 507.
Medalist: Caroline Whallon (Noblesville) 37-38=75.
Other Noblesville scores: Josie Kelley 39-38=77, Jordan Adam 42-36=78, Karis Shields 42-44=86, Olivia Fowler 45-48=93.
Southeastern scores: Lauren Stewart 38-39=77, Janelle Garcia 40-39=79, Cora Zink 40-41=81, Makenna Watson 39-42=81, Ella Bui 41-44=85.
Fishers scores: Olivia Holding 45-46=91, Sarah Majeski 43-51=94, Kristi Lilek 49-46=95, Kate Jansen 53-48=101, Lola Kivett 53-57=110.
Heights scores: Kaylee Rhoton 49-51=100, Anna Rickey 50-54=104, Lola Wilson 54-54=108, Kelsee Powers 62-66=128.
Over at Pebble Brook, Carmel claimed the Guerin Catholic sectional championship on Monday.
The Greyhounds totaled a score of 286, placing all five of their golfers in the top seven – “definitely have never had that before,” said Carmel coach Kelly Kluesner. The coach said everyone “played great” on their way to delivering a 13th sectional championship for the Greyhounds’ program.
The Carmel girls golf team claimed the sectional title at Pebble Brook on Monday. The Greyhounds had five golfers place in the top seven. (Photo provided)
Claire Swathwood finished with a one under par 69; she would be involved in a three-way playoff for medalist honors, where she placed third. Swathwood had a sensational round, making four birdies.
In fact, the Carmel golfers finished in positions three though seven, and all made at least one birdie. Kamryn Williams scored an even-par 70, draining three birdies. Ava Nguyen had two birdies on her way to a 72, Sophie Mock got one birdie while carding a 75, and Michaela Headlee finished with a 76, including two birdies.
“We just tried to go for fairways and greens,” said Kluesner. “That was their challenge for the day. They pulled it off. It was successful. Claire finished with quite a few birdies to tie for the lead. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
LONG PLAYOFF
Westfield had the top two individual golfers, and they had quite a few extra holes of golf to decide the winner. Samantha Brown and Addi Kooi joined Swathwood in the playoff after all three of them finished with 69s.
Brown and Kooi advanced to the second hole, then went on to play six more holes – it finished as a seven-hole playoff – before a winner was finally decided. Brown made a birdie on the seventh playoff home to win the individual medalist honor for the second consecutive year. Kooi thus finished as runner-up.
“It was super fun, especially being able to do it with Addi,” said Brown. “It was kind of just like playing a practice round or something. You’re just having fun.”
Westfield’s Samantha Brown talks with Guerin Catholic assistant coach Joel Rust after her long playoff round at Pebble Brook. Brown needed seven playoff holes before winning the individual championship. (Richie Hall)
Kooi made four birdies during her round, while Brown totaled two during her regulation round. Kelsey Haverluck and Claire Thompson both had one birdie; Thompson and Allie McKeown both had 81s in their round.
“We’re really happy with how our team performed today,” said Westfield coach Josh Bryant. “Three hundred is a good score for us. And I think that were incredibly proud of Addi and Sam for their leadership today. And then just the battle for the individual medalist and how fun that was and how well they played.”
Brebeuf Jesuit finished third with a 334, earning the third qualifying spot for the regional. This year, the teams advancing from Pebble Brook will play the Lafayette Jefferson regional at Battle Ground Golf Club, part of the re-alignment that came when the IHSAA added a sixth regional site to the post-season.
Guerin Catholic placed fourth as a team with a 340, but will have two individuals move out to the regional. Izzy Pinon scored a 77, while Ali Scott carded an 82. Scott had three birdies, with Pinon and Sarah Rigg both making one.
University finished with a score of 400. Kelsey DuBois led the Trailblazers with an 86.
AT PEBBLE BROOK
Team scores: Carmel 286, Westfield 300, Brebeuf Jesuit 334, Guerin Catholic 340, Lebanon 355, University 400, Cardinal Ritter 424, Speedway 456, Pike 457.
Medalist: Samantha Brown (Westfield) 37-32=69, won in playoff.
Carmel scores: Claire Swathwood 37-32=69, Kamryn Williams 37-33=70, Ava Nguyen 38-34=72, Sophie Mock 40-35=75, Michaela Headlee 39-37=76.
Other Westfield scores: Addi Kooi 35-34=69, Allie McKeown 40-41=81, Claire Thompson 44-37=81, Kelsey Haverluck 51-42=93.
Guerin Catholic scores: Izzy Pinon 39-38=77, Ali Scott 43-39=82, Sarah Rigg 46-44=90, Sydney Delagrange 49-42=91, Grayson Navarro 54-45=99.
University scores: Kelsey DuBois 43-43=86, Vivian Suh 48-46=94, Grace Cates 50-47=97, Scout Griffiths 63-60=123, Quincy Russell 67-60=127.