Madison Central wins its second girls’ golf team state championship
Madison Central captured the school’s second girls’ team state title Saturday at the 2022 Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac/KHSAA Girls’ State Golf Championship in Bowling Green.
The win gave the Indians a sweep of this year’s boys’ and girls’ team state titles after its boys’ team won its first championship on Wednesday. This marks only the third time a girls’ and boys’ team from the same school have won state golf championships in the same year. Waggener (1971) and Somerset (1994) also got sweeps.
In the individual competition, Marshall County freshman Trinity Beth shot 1-under par (72-71—143) to take first place for the Marshals playing Bowling Green Country Club’s 5,690-yard, par-72 layout.
Madison Central (58 over) pulled away from two-time defending champion Marshall County (75 over) on the back nine Saturday to win by 17 strokes.
“I didn’t try to start watching the live scoring until closer to the turn,” Madison Central Coach Tennye Ohr said. “I only saw it at a two-stroke lead, but I understand that we were tied at one time. But my girls played their best from hole 13 through 18. The last four holes I think we only ended up playing one or two over par for the four scores that counted.”
Madison Central’s Elizabeth Eberle (4-over par), a Cincinnati commit, and Claira Beth Ramsey (9 over), an Eastern Kentucky commit, notched top-10 individual finishes to go with the scores of Mollie Neeley (22 over) and Abi Buchanan (23 over) while the score of Lydia Harrel (30 over) did not count. Only the top four golfers’ scores make up a team total.
Madison Central had a seven-stroke lead at the conclusion of the first round on Friday.
“We were lucky (Friday). I was happy that we played the back nine first and we were not in the featured group,” Ohr said. “We went out and played a good round.“
Beth was the only golfer to finish under par for the two-day event and edged out Lyon County’s Cathryn Brown (2 over) by three strokes. Last year’s individual champion, Macie Brown (4 over) of Bullitt East, finished in a tie with Eberle for third place. The field included 88 golfers, half from the nine teams of up to five players, and 44 who qualified as individuals based on scores from last week’s State First Round at various sites. Two qualifiers did not attend.
From Lexington, Henry Clay’s Kylah Lunsford (13 over for 11th), Lexington Christian’s Carter Lankford (14 over in 13th), and Lexington Catholic’s Bella Brooks (16 over in 15th), had top-15 finishes.
Madison Central’s team entered the state tournament as the Region 9 runner-up after falling to Lexington Catholic at the region championship tournament in Versailles two weeks ago. They finished second to LexCath again last week at the State First Round Tournament at Winchester Country Club. Both teams advanced to this weekend, but the slate was wiped clean for the State Final Rounds in Bowling Green where Lexington Catholic (105 over) finished fourth Saturday.
The revised state golf tournament format, which included a State First Round tournament for the first time, also brought back the possibility of region runner-up teams winning a state title. Under the format of the last three years, only region champions made the state tournament.
Before that rule was implemented, team runners-up had advanced to state for many years. Lexington Christian’s girls’ team won the state title as a region runner-up in 2018, the last year before the format revision.
“We made it through. Our goal was to survive,” Ohr said of the region and first round tournaments. “They felt like they survived and they were ready for this week. We took a lot of patience and tried to be a little bit more poised. And with the senior leadership I have with Claira and Elizabeth and Lydia, everybody stayed steady … I didn’t see too much nervousness out of them.”
Madison Central won its first girls’ title in 2015. Ohr has been the Indians’ girls coach since 2018 and has led Madison Central team to the state tournament in three of the last five years along with several individual qualifiers.
An individual state champion herself as a player for Estill County, Ohr competed in four U.S. Women’s Opens. She will be inducted to the Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame later this year for her achievements as a player, coach and teaching professional.
State Girls’ Golf Championship top 10
1. Trinity Beth, Marshall County -1 (72-71—143); 2. Cathryn Brown, Lyon County +2 (73-73—146); T3. Macie Brown, Bullitt East +4 (78-70—148); T3. Elizabeth Eberle, Madison Central +4 (77-71—148); T5. Izzy Christie, Paintsville +6 (76-74—150); T5. Reagan Ramage, Cooper +6 (76-74—150); 7. Karra Tucker, Madisonville +7 (79-72—151); T8. Sydney McClanahan, South Warren +9 (76-77—153); T8. Claira Beth Ramsey, Madison Central +9 (78-75—153); 10. Madison Borders, Thomas Nelson +11 (79-76—155).
Team results
1. Madison Central +58 (320-314—634); 2. Marshall County +75 (327-324—651); 3. Cooper +91 (341-326—667); 4. Lexington Catholic +105 (345-336—681); 5. Sacred Heart +119 (347-348—695); 6. South Warren +137 (365-348—713); 7. Owen County +142 (361-357—718); 8. Bowling Green +154 (365-365—730); 9. Mason County +212 (393-395—788).
Complete results online: https://bit.ly/3EtDWJ8
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 6:32 PM.
