OHSAA girls golf: 5 storylines entering Columbus-area Division I district tournament
For Olentangy Orange girls golf coach Todd Helline, and probably several of his colleagues, the real intrigue in Wednesday’s Division I district tournament lies in which team will finish third.
The bodies of work Dublin Jerome and New Albany have put together not only this year, but for the previous several, have many observers feeling that those teams will finish first and second in some order at The Links at Echo Springs.
But after that, the other 10 teams in the field — Dublin Coffman, Gahanna Lincoln, Granville, Grove City, Hilliard Darby, Olentangy, Olentangy Liberty, Orange, Pickerington North and Upper Arlington — will have their eyes on the third and final berth to the state tournament Oct. 20 and 21 at Ohio State’s Gray Course.
The top three individuals not on qualifying teams also will advance.
When the word “dogfight” was broached to Helline last week, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I legitimately wrote the word ‘dogfight’ to Olentangy’s coach (Micah Conley) the other day,” Helline said. “In central Ohio, you have a lot of the top teams in the state (according to averages on the Wanamaker app) within five or six shots of each other. The fact that now, those teams are realistically fighting for the third spot, that’s pretty cool.”
New Albany will seek its sixth consecutive district title. Jerome and Olentangy were second and third a season ago.
Here are five storylines heading into the district tournament:
1. Dublin Jerome remains as strong as advertised
The Celtics shot 302 to win the first of two Blacklick Woods sectionals last Tuesday, ticking off the second of what coach C.D. Butcher called “our standard four goals.”
“Win the OCC (-Cardinal) — we did that — and we try to win sectionals so we can be in the last group at district,” Butcher said. “Why wouldn’t you want to play with the best teams out there? The third goal is to make it out of district, and the fourth goal (at state) is a secret.”
Junior Ellie Ryu’s medalist round of 72 led Jerome at sectional. Teammates Mia Ringger (76), Alexa Prettyman (77) and Addie Yarbrough (77) added top-five finishes and Medha Pothuru tied for eighth (79).
Pothuru, Ringger and Yarbrough are seniors, a year ahead of Prettyman.
“Any girl can go low,” Butcher said. “We are the deepest team in my 20 years of any team in Ohio. Our sixth girl (senior Lorna Zhang) averaged 75. We haven’t played our best golf yet this year, and maybe we’ll never play our best, but if we do it will be scary.”
Jerome finished second at state last year, one shot behind Centerville.
2. Pack tightens for Olentangy Orange
With junior Skylar Dean having led the way most of the season, including a 64 in the second round of the OCC-Buckeye tournament, the rest of the Pioneers’ lineup had some cushion for improvement.
Dean again was the top scorer at sectional with a 79, but sophomore Adeline Ricker was one shot behind. Junior Lauren Powell and sophomore Keira Kwak added rounds of 87 and 89, respectively.
Junior Abby Roebuck rounds out the lineup.
“(Sectional at Blacklick Woods) was the first time Skylar was not far ahead of everybody, but Adeline stepped right up,” Helline said. “It was the first time we’ve really had somebody step in and be (in position to be) the No. 1 if needed for the day, that kind of deal.”
Dean tied for 15th at state a year ago as Orange’s only qualifier.
3. Several teams should contend for state berths
Liberty (321) won the Oakhaven sectional, defeating UA on the fifth-player-score tiebreaker, and New Albany came in third (331) without sophomore star Mia Hammond. Hammond participated in the World Junior Golf Championship in Brampton, Ontario, last week but is expected to play at district.
Grove City (350) and Olentangy (331) won the Pickaway Country Club and second Blacklick Woods sectionals, respectively. Darby’s Brielle Starnes shot a 76 to share first place at Pickaway.
A few coaches pointed to Granville, which was second to Olentangy by a shot, as a potential dark horse. Juniors Hannah Huggins, Olivia Jones and Ainsley Laidlaw-Smith and sophomores Avery Staten and Lydia Wigal comprise the Blue Aces’ lineup, and all shot 80 to 93 at sectional.
4. Yancey marks Westerville North’s return to district
In her second season of varsity golf, North junior Rose Yancey shot an 84 in Blacklick Woods’ second sectional last Wednesday to become the Warriors’ first district qualifier in 13 years.
Yancey averaged 78 in OCC-Buckeye play, and her best round of the year was a 77 at Blacklick Woods during the league tournament.
“She has really been working at it, so we knew this was a possibility,” North coach Betsy Gegick said. “She came out strong for us right away.
“She’s become a lot more consistent, and when she has a bad hole she can jump back in and birdie the next hole. Her mental game has become stronger as well as her ability to bounce back. When you make a double (bogey) on a hole, it’s not the end of the round.”
Logan Newman had been the most recent North golfer to make district, in 2010.
5. Worthington Kilbourne’s Anderson, Watkins Memorial’s James lead individual qualifiers
Worthington Kilbourne sophomore Bella Anderson won the Pickaway sectional with a 72, putting her one step from her second consecutive state tournament. Anderson finished second at district a season ago and tied for 15th at state after not playing a regular-season tournament.
Watkins Memorial senior Gracie James earned her third district berth in a row and will try for her second state appearance. The Findlay commit tied for 11th at state in 2021.
First-time qualifiers are Bexley junior Andrea Golden, Delaware Hayes sophomore Madison Jenkins and Watterson freshman Maura Nye.
Other individual qualifiers from central Ohio are Big Walnut sophomore Gracyn Alexander, Canal Winchester juniors Hailey Boss and Anna Machamer and Westerville Central junior Lauren Parker.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OHSAA girls golf: District tournament storylines for central Ohio
