Royal sweep! Wynford boys, girls win Northern 10 golf titles

Posted by Admin September 20, 2024 Golf

HOLMES TOWNSHIP – Wynford senior Dawson Pelter was in the last group on the course Wednesday afternoon at the Northern 10 golf championships.

The Royals had already clinched the conference title, but needed a par-par finish from Pelter to secure the league tournament outright.

“He makes a six-foot bender on his 17th hole for par,” Wynford coach Michael Powers said. “We walk over to the tee box on the last hole, talk about the situation at hand, and he looks at me with a grin and says — ‘I like the pressure‘.

“He proceeds to stick his tee shot to 20 feet and two putts for par to seal the tournament victory. A couple years ago he had a similar situation, but it didn’t go his way. This showed how much he has grown and become comfortable when the pressure is on — I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

As if that wasn’t thrilling enough, the tournament title came down to a fifth score tiebreak clinched by freshman Owen Prenger’s 86. It’s the program’s second league title in three seasons after watching last year’s slip away.

“The feeling of having to give that N10 trophy back last year after having one of our worst rounds of the year in last year’s tournament was what made this year’s title so very sweet,” Powers said. “We started off this season with a disappointing fourth place finish in the first N10 shootout, but the boys hung in there and ended up winning four of the last five shootouts and topped it off with the tournament victory.”

Freshman Clay Rogers led the way with a 75, third-best among individuals, seniors Drew Johnson (81), Weston Prenger (81), Dawson Pelter (83) rounded out the team score followed by Owen Prenger’s title-clinching 86, and senior Briar Ridge’s 87 was the drop.

“When you look at our varsity lineup, you see some veterans that surround two freshman,” Powers said. “The freshman nerves definitely got to them a bit to start the season off, that’s a big jump from middle school matches. The veterans of the group did a great job of taking them under their wings, which helped Clay and Owen get comfortable with the situation.

“The certainly filled in the gaps that we knew we needed to fill coming into the season.”

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But without Pelter’s clutch performance, Wednesday conference title wouldn’t have been as sweet.

“We are talking about a kid that when he joined the middle school team in seventh grade, he could barely make contact with the golf ball,” Powers said. “The hours he’s put into the game — just like the rest of his fellow seniors — is what helped develop a confidence that the program desperately needed.”

The boys performance came one day after the Wynford girls won their first league title in program history. But it isn’t as if the Royals haven’t been competitive — quite the opposite, actually.

Since the N10 began crowning league champions in 2016, Wynford has finished as runner-up in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2023, and third in 2017, 2019, and 2021.

“For this team it means they have finally reached the mountaintop,” coach Sean Weisenauer said. “All of their hard work and dedication finally paid off.”

Sophomore Caroline Sheldon led the way with an 83 for runner-up honors as an individual, junior Rylee Robinson was third with an 84, sophomore Willa Johnson fifth at 95, sophomore Maggie Ridge’s 101 rounded out the team score of 383; freshman Megan Young (105) and senior Heather Wappelhorst (117) the drops.

“They’re super competitive,” Weisenauer said. “They’re committed to their game and willing to go the extra mile to improve their game whether that is by getting lessons, going to the range, or simply playing.”

Returning everyone from last year’s N10 runner-up squad, the Royals knew what they were capable of this fall.

“They realized that this year we had a great shot at winning the league and were willing to work even harder than before to win the title,” Weisenauer said.

Colonel Crawford girls were runner-up after winning the last five league titles led by medalist, and Northern 10 Player of the Year, Maddy Gray’s 78. The Eagles were fourth at the boys tournament, too, led by freshmen Bryant Berry (77) and Graden Riggle (78) who placed fourth and fifth among individuals.

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