Edison girls qualify for state

ARLINGTON — It was a bittersweet day Monday for area girls in the Division II district golf tournament.Edison's veteran team and Perkins junior Abby Singler did the celebrating while the Huron girls team was coping with a heart-breaking finish.The top three teams and three individuals from the Arlington district earned berths in the state championships Oct. 14-15 on the Ohio State University Gray course.Edison moves on to the state for the fifth year in a row with a runner-up finish in the 12-school team field. The Chargers shot a 346, second only to Shelby's 341 who had the medalist as Alexis Jones shot a fine 37-36—73. She is also the defending state champion.The battle for the third spot came down to the wire between Ottawa Hills and Huron. Ottawa Hills picked up the last qualifying spot with a 382 total. Huron was right behind at 383.On the individual side of the ledger, Singler, a junior, advances as a result of an 80, with 39 on the back (her first nine) and a 41 on the front. She actually tied for the third overall for the best round of the day on the Sycamore Springs course.Huron's Julia Hippely also qualified individually with 41-40—81 and will be going to the state for the third time.Two other area girls participated as individuals but did not qualify. Vermilion junior Cecelia Dillon cashed in with 46-46—92 and Oak Harbor sophomore Jaclyn Wojciechowski submitted 44-54—98.Edison, which shot 345 a year ago on the same course, was paced by senior Mackenzie Butler with 42-38–-80. Freshman Jordan Pruitt followed with 45-42—87, junior Zoe Grant 43-46—89, senior Shelby Zeiter 44-46—90 and junior Jacque Butler 50-45—95.Mackenzie Butler will be playing in Columbus for the fourth year in a row, while Zeiter, Grant and Jacque Butler have two years of state experience behind them."Overall, I'm pleased to have the girls qualify again," Edison coach Lisa Kelble said. "I know they may have expected to go lower than that, but the nerves may have gotten to them early after we had a delay for the start because of the weather (fog).Our main goal was to get back to the state, and we did that. We have another two days of golf ahead of us and not many teams in the state can say that. Our short game was not as sharp as we hoped for, but the girls' dedication to the sport has paid off."I'm heartbroken for the Huron girls who came to close to going back, and I'm really happy for Abby Singler from Perkins who qualified as an individual," she added.Perkins coach Alice James was elated."I'm so proud of Abby," James said. "Her work ethic and attitude are so great and she's playing her best golf right now when it counts the most. She just had a solid round today and kept getting in the right position all day long, and that was big."Singler commented on her round, and a five-putt green."I started on the back and had a 39, but five-putted 14. I didn't let that bother me because I got right up on 15 and hit the ball right down the middle. Then I birdied the 18th hole," Singler said. "I'm just happy to be able to get to the state. It was one of my goals this year."Huron coach Cody Martin talked about his team coming so close."We talk about what a stroke means here and there, and today we just came up with short," he said. "We had the tiebreaker (fifth score) if that was needed and Ottawa Hills had three girls shoot well and used a 133 to beat us by one. It's tough to lose that way.""I'm happy for Julia who played well and has been our leader all year long," Martin added. "She has been consistent, and it was the same today with 41-40."While Hippely's 81 was enough to get her to state, she was disappointed the team didn't get to advance for the fourth year in a row."It's a great feeling for me to qualify for the state again, but I wish we would be going as a team. We sat around for about an hour before the second last group came in, and found out we lost out by a shot. My putting saved me today," said Hippely, who had an 89 a year ago in the district.Huron also had 48-47—95 from freshman Gabby Buathier, while senior Rachel Stadler carded 49-49—98, and senior Aubrey Baumler and freshman Kelsey Stadler checked in with 109 apiece.HURONClyde boys, Vermilion's Joby Pfeil, Port Clinton's Anthony Paradiso advance to districtIt was a mirror-like scenario compared to the girls district tournament at Sycamore Springs, in the Division II boys sectional Monday at Sawmill Creek.There was the joy of victory, and the agony of defeat, at both sites.Doing the celebrating at Sawmill was Clyde's team and two area individuals — Vermilion junior Joby Pfeil and Port Clinton senior Anthony Paradiso.The Fliers and both individuals earned spots in the district event Thursday at the Red Hawk Run course near Findlay, along with Margaretta and Danbury teams, and Huron's duo of Max Martin and Riki Tanaka.The agony of defeat was felt by veteran Bellevue coach Jan Terveen and his team, who lost out from a sixth straight trip to the district in a tiebreaker. The Redmen and Clear Fork tied with 347 totals, and Bellevue lost out on the fifth score (91-95)Twelve schools were battling for the three team spots open for the district, and Ontario ran away from the field with a 327 total with four players in the low 80s. Clyde placed second at 341, then came Bellevue and Clear Fork.Shelby was next with 349, followed by Upper Sandusky at 356, Vermilion 361, Oak Harbor 367, Galion 372, Edison 398, Willard 403 and Port Clinton 404.Four individual berths were also up for grabs. Shelby's Brock Kehres was medalist with 40-35--75 and Pfeil was next at 37-42--79. Paradiso and Jack McElliott of Galion tied for third, and last available positions, with 82s. Paradiso turned in 38-44 for his 82."This is our lowest tournament score of the year and picked a good day to do it," Clyde coach Rob Jennings said. "We wanted to be able to put ourselves in a position to get out, and that was all we could ask for. The kids responded and Ian Hilliker had a very good round for us."Hilliker, a junior, carded 38-38--76, while sophomore Ben Hohenstein tallied 43-42--85, senior Heath Maines 40-46--86, sophomore Dave Hohenstein 46-48--94 and senior Cole McBroom 47-49--96.Hilliker talked about his round."The key for me today was I played it safe for the most part and never went over the green," he said. "That helps a lot. My goal was to shoot a 77, and also for our team to advance, and we've made it. We're happy."Bellevue was trying to get to the district for the sixth year in a row, but the 18th hole proved costly."We were right there most of the day but the last hole cost us," Terveen said. "You use the four lowest scores and four of the five had a double bogey on that hole. We just didn't finish."Senior Cody Snyder was low with 39-44--83, and senior Noah Lawson added 39-46--85. Joe Wetten tallied 44-44--88, Nolan Meyer 45-46--91 and Nathan Fox 48-47--95.Pfeil and Paradiso commented on their play."I wanted to shoot 77 today, and felt that would be enough to get out," Pfeil said. "I made some nice putts along the way, but the shot of the day came on No. 7 when I hit my tee shot to within a foot of the cup for my only birdie.""It seemed I had to wait forever for the other scores to come in, and was hoping for at least a playoff," Paradiso said. "I was relieved when told 82 was good enough to get out. This makes the fourth time I'll be in the district, once with a team (freshman) and the last three as an individual."Also for Vermilion, Reese Miller registered 41-44--85, Mason Montgomery 98 and Kyle Ancong 99.For Port Clinton, John Young added 46-53--99, Jaxon Martinez 106, Iyan Crawford 117 and Lyman Brown 118.Jake St. Clair was low for Oak Harbor with 42-42--84, one shot ahead of Tristan Varga's 40-45--85. Rheve Martin added 93, Alex Gezo 105 and Bo Hermes 117.For Edison, Matt Kowalski fired 44-42--86 and Thomas Oeder 45-45--90, Ryan Nealy 110, Casey Fair 112 and Clayton Betts 119.Willard had 43-50--93 and 46-47--93 from Phillip Bogner and Alex Gardner respectively. Graham Wiers added 108, Kolin McKelvey 109 and Mitch Carnahan 111.Edison's girls golf team advances to state. From left to right, Zoe Grant, Shelby Zeiter, Mackenzie Butler, Jordan Pruitt and Jacque Butler.Huron's Julia Hippley after qualifying for the Division II girls state championships on Monday at Sycamore Springs golf course near Findlay.