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Minster's Ashley Meyer watches her shot at the Midwest Athletic Conference girls golf tournament at the Mercer County Elks on Thursday. Meyer shot an 87 as the Wildcats won the MAC title.
MERCER COUNTY - Minster has been one of the most dominant girls golf programs in the Midwest Athletic Conference, but it's been a while since the Wildcats have hoisted the conference trophy, and longer since winning an outright title.
After going 8-0 in conference dual matches this season, and 20-0 in all duals and tri-matches, Minster took to the Mercer County Elks course on Thursday for the conference tournament and held court, shooting a 370 to win by a blistering 44 strokes for its first title since 2016 (shared that year with Versailles) and first outright title since 2011.
"I'm really proud of the ladies," said Minster coach Deb Ahrns, who receives the MAC's Coach of the Year that goes to the conference champion. "They're always all-in and give 100%, give that little bit of extra and don't have to be asked."
Parkway finished second with a 414, six strokes ahead of third-place St. Henry. Versailles was fourth with a 421. Marion Local (447), Fort Recovery (450), New Bremen (452), Delphos St. John's (458) and Coldwater (461) rounded out the leaderboard.
Three Wildcats made the six-player All-Tournament team. Ashley Meyer shot an 87 with Ashlyn Homan two strokes back with 89 for fifth, and Lauren Heitkamp was sixth with a 91. Star Weigandt finished with a 103 with Kendyl Bergman and Mica Colter rounding out the Minster scorecard with 107 and 116, respectively.
"It was a perfect day for golf," said Ahrns. "They work well together as a team. I could see them continue to progress well. This is my 20th season and they went 20-0 this year."
Versailles' Ella Porter shot an 81 Thursday to claim medalist honors and secure her position as MAC Golfer of the Year.
The battle for Golfer of the Year honors - going to the player who accumulated the most points based on finishes in dual matches and the tournament - came down to Versailles' Ella Porter and New Bremen's Abbie Burden.
Porter had a slim 83.5-81.5 margin in points heading into the tournament and shot an 81 to take medalist honors to earn Golfer of the Year honors by a 137.5-134 margin over Burden.
New Bremen's Abbie Burden shot an 86 to finish as runner-up in the MAC Player of the Year standings.
St. Henry's Lindsay Grieshop shot an 86 to tie Burden as tournament runner-up.
Burden tied with St. Henry's Lindsay Grieshop for tournament runner-up with matching 86s.
Parkway was led by Sarah Sheppard's 96 with Shay Boroff carding a 97. Madison Louth added a 105. Breanna Berry (116), McKenzie Mathewson (120) and Addysin Leighner (136) rounded out the scorecard for the Panthers.
Ava Watercutter shot a 107 for St. Henry while Rachel Hartings, who shot an eagle on the ninth hole, had a 113. Grace Beyke (114), Haley Lange (119) and Lillian Rockwell (132) rounded out the Redskins' scoring.
Marion Local's scores were from Natalie Kuess (104), Allison Dirksen (109), Audrey Winner (116), Emma Smith (118), Haley Everman (119) and Anna Hemmelgarn (121).
Fort Recovery was led by Olivia Knapke's 102. Ella Schoen shot a 113 with Emma Will (116), Eva Kahlig (117), Brynn Stammen (118) and Marissa Schoen rounding out the scoring.
Joining Burden for New Bremen were Ali Trego (109), Skylar Lochtefeld (121), Sammie Manbeck (136) and Brylin Smith (149).
Coldwater was led by Libby Gilmore's 111, followed by Madison Bruns (114), Kate Hemmelgarn (116), Lauren Ayers (120), Ella Kaiser (131) and Emily Brunswick (133).
The tournament this year was dedicated to longtime Fort Recovery girls golf coach Joe Bruns, who died Aug. 24 after a battle with cancer.
The postseason gets underway on Tuesday in the northwest district as all the teams except for Versailles will compete in the Division II sectional at Moose Landing in Ottawa. Versailles will host a Division II southwest district sectional on Wednesday at Stillwater.
