Poland girls place second in state golf tournament

State golf

Allison Mitzel placed 13th overall to lead the defending Division II state champs.

VindicatoR staff report

COLUMBUS — Poland High’s girls team dropped 25 strokes in one day to slip to a runner-up finish at the Division II state golf tournament Saturday at Ohio State University’s Gray Course.

The defending-champion Bulldogs went from a 326 score on Friday to 351 on Saturday for 677 total. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin tacked on scores of 332 and 326 for a winning total of 658. ND-CL trailed Poland by six strokes after Friday’s round.

Rounding out the top five teams were St. Paris Graham Local (687), Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown (694) and Kettering Archbishop Alter (706).

Allison Mitzel was Poland’s most consistent golfer with back-to-back rounds of 82 for 164. The junior was followed by Maria Mancini’s 168, Angela Molaskey’s 169, Mariah Groner’s 176 and Meredith McKay’s 200.

Although Poland had a later tee time, the weather didn’t improve enough to matter.

“It was skiing weather,” Poland coach Judy Young said of the conditions that necessitated winter gloves and hand-warmers. “But that’s not an excuse. We just didn’t play our normal game. We clicked all season and had somebody pick up the slack if someone had a bad day, but that wasn’t the case Saturday.”

The coach acknowledged that the pressure of being the first-day front-runner had some bearing on the team’s collapse.

“That [351] was our highest 18-hole total all season, but that wasn’t the right time to shoot it,” Young said. “It’s not that they didn’t want to win.”

Poland’s record was without a blemish until Saturday.

“We came up a little short, but the girls had a great season and it’s as tribute them. I’m still proud of them.”

Of the top five, Molaskey, Groner and McKay will depart via graduation.

Mancini is a sophomore.

The top three finishers — Pemberville Eastwood’s Alyssa Shimel, Gahanna Columbus Academy’s Morgan Ransom and Toledo Maumee Valley Country Day’s Yang Li — were competing individually.

The top performer among teams in the top 10 was Lauren Volz — the fourth-best finisher overall.

Shimel’s medalist score was 145, while Ransom had 147, Li 152 and Volz 155. Rounding out the top five 36-hole scores was Kettering Alter’s Grace Nikolai with 156.

Mitzel’s 164 was 13th-best.

As an individual not on a qualifying team, Warren JFK’s Kelsie Teaberry placed 24th by carding 172.

Boys

SUNBURY — Among Division II boys, Champion’s Tom Lydic placed 18th overall with 162 at Northstar Golf Resort.

Morgan Dobbins of Jackson was medalist with 147, followed by Tyler Hohman of Columbus St. Francis DeSales with 149.

In Division III, Lowellville was 12th with 759. Minster was champion with 654, followed by Strasburg-Franklin’s 671. Anthony Alfano led Lowellville with a two-day total of 177, while Mauro Amendola had 182, Ray Carlson 198 and Tyler Vitus 202.