By Paul D. Bowker<\/p>\n
KALONA<\/p>\n
With a state golf tournament bid on the line, Mid-Prairie junior Olivia Swartzendruber was already nerved up when she found teammate Morgyn Bender during a break between holes during last week\u2019s 2A Regional Final.<\/p>\n
The Golden Hawks were on their home course, Kalona Golf Course. They needed a top-two finish, as a team, to qualify for this week\u2019s state tourney in Marshalltown. No big deal, right?<\/p>\n
It quickly became a big deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw Morgyn on the back nine for the first time all day,\u201d Swartzendruber said. \u201cI asked her how she was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bender\u2019s response: \u201cNot so hot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stress machine kicked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was getting kind of scared,\u201d said Swartzendruber, who ended up scoring an 87 to finish sixth on the individual leaderboard. \u201cThe day was full of nerves. I don\u2019t think I was relaxed once.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI get really nervous,\u201d said Bender, a junior who is also a basketball teammate of Swartzendruber. \u201cI don\u2019t try to be. I try to calm myself down. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nerves, and the golfing, worked out. The Golden Hawks combined to shoot 383 to finish in second place, six shots ahead of the third-place team, Centerville, and just two shots behind tournament winner Durant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day did not pan out exactly how we thought,\u201d Swartzendruber said, \u201cbut we got to state anyway. It doesn\u2019t matter how we got there. We made it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thursday and Friday at American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown, the Golden Hawks will be one of 10 teams competing for a 2A state title.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you get there, the hard part is over,\u201d Mid-Prairie head coach Tracy McArtor said. \u201cWhatever happens out there is just gravy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Golden Hawks placed fifth at the 2024 state tournament, when Swartzendruber and Bender were freshmen playing on the varsity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be so fun,\u201d Bender said. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten so close to all these girls, some of my best friends. We\u2019re just going to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bender survived some nervous moments and shot a 95 to tie for 11th place in the Regional Final, helping to secure a spot in the state field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was going to shoot in the 100s,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cI know I have to be one of the ones that has a low number to score for our team. Being a two, you have a little bit more pressure. I was just like, \u2018Oh, my gosh, I\u2019m not doing good.\u2019 I was really hoping other people were doing so good. It all worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the round was over, she hugged her dad, Kelby, who is head coach of Mid-Prairie\u2019s boys team, and the Golden Hawks were on their way to Marshalltown.<\/p>\n
Macie Ihrig, a freshman, added a 98 for the Golden Hawks, senior Delani Blum carded 103, freshman Noelle Nelson had a 104 and senior Paiton Chittick had a 108.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys, I think if they just go up there and play freely and don\u2019t worry about the little things and just go have fun, it\u2019s hard to say how well they can play,\u201d McArtor said. \u201cIf Liv and Morgan play the game they\u2019re capable of, having that leadership role and experience. Everybody else, if they just shoot their averages, kind of like they did today, they should be able to finish probably the middle of the pack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll take anything we can come home with,\u201d McArtor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad to be back and hopefully make a run,\u201d Swartzendruber said.<\/p>\n
The state tournament consists of two 18-hole rounds.<\/p>\n
Joining Mid-Prairie and Durant in the team competition are Tipton, Crestwood, Grundy Center, Hinton, Jesup, Kuemper Catholic, New Hampton and Roland Story. Also competing as individuals are 19 golfers from around the state, including Alexandria Booten of Burlington\/Notre Dame, who won medalist honors in the Kalona Regional Final with a score of 76.<\/p>\n
GRAYSON CARDS 83:\u00a0Mid-Prairie junior Grayson Gingerich shot 83 and tied for 16th\u00a0place in a Class 3A District boys tournament held May 19 at Bos Landen Golf Course in Pella.<\/p>\n
He qualified for the tournament as an individual by carding a 76 in a 3A Sectional in Oskaloosa.<\/p>\n
Kyler Besick of Pella won District medalist honors with a 72.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
BY THE NUMBERS<\/p>\n
2A GIRLS REGIONAL<\/p>\n
(May 22 at Kalona Golf Course)<\/p>\n
Team scores: 1, Durant, 381; 2, Mid-Prairie, 383; 3, Centerville, 389; 4, Oelwein, 393; 5, Camanche, 415.<\/p>\n
Top Five: 1, Alexandria Booten, Burlington\/Notre Dame, 76; 2, Grace Lewis, Oelwein, 77; 3, Emma Kipfer, Albia, 83; T4, Matty Kovecevich and Gracie Zaputil, Centerville, 86.<\/p>\n
Mid-Prairie: 6, Olivia Swartzendruber, 87; T11, Morgyn Bender, 95; 15, Macie Ihrig, 98; 19, Delani Blum, 103; 20, Noelle Nelson, 104; T25, Paiton Chittick, 108.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tMid-Prairie,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t girls golf,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t state tournament,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Olivia Swartzendruber,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Morgyn Bender\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Paul D. Bowker KALONA With a state golf tournament bid on the line, Mid-Prairie junior Olivia Swartzendruber…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1932,44,1931,1934,1933,932],"class_list":["post-2698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-girls-golf","tag-golf","tag-mid-prairie","tag-morgyn-bender","tag-olivia-swartzendruber","tag-state-tournament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}