The final golf tournament of the season is here. The best golfers in the state will tee it up with hopes of raising the state title trophy. The state championship will begin with round one on Monday, Oct. 21 and finish with round two on Tuesday. The top six teams and next 18 individuals from Monday qualify for day two.
Here is a look at the Topeka-area storylines, plus the schedule and locations:
All Washburn Rural players qualify for Class 6A State Championship
Washburn Rural was able to qualify their entire team for the Class 6A State Championship after taking second place in regionals on Monday.
The Junior Blues have been a consistent group with Reece Randall playing in the No. 1 role. Natalie Peterson, who won the City Championship, has been the No. 2 golfer on the roster. These two have played well consistently at the top of the lineup and are primed for a big final tournament.
Lauren Cox, a junior, and sophomore Kailyn Petersen following the senior duo. Colbey Stead and Ella Taggart will also play in the state tournament for Washburn Rural at state. The Junior Blues took fourth place last year with Randall, Peterson, Petersen and Stead playing on last year’s state team.
High school golf: See which Topeka-area players reached the state tournament
Seaman and Topeka West Golfers Gear Up for Class 5A State Championship
Seaman won the regional title on Monday and qualified their roster for the Class 5A State Championship. The Vikings did not earn a top six performance in last year’s state tournament, but they are returning some state experience.
Makenna Stuke was the top player for Seaman in regionals and will lead the team into Monday’s tournament. She earned 29th place in last year’s state tournament. Kaitlynn Frye finished in 28th place last season and she has been the No. 3 golfer on the Vikings roster.
Seaman’s Jaycee Zimmerman has played in the No. 1 spot of the lineup as she has scored the best on the team. She took third place in regionals and will look to help Seaman reach the podium. Chloe Schmidtlein, Molina Quintana and Anna McLaughlin will join the Seaman trio at the Class 5A State Championship.
Topeka West’s Alex Baxter returns to the state tournament after last year’s 29th place performance. Baxter tied for seventh in regionals and she has been shooting an average of 87.88 this season. Berlyn Kolean joins her teammate at the state championship, too.
Shawnee Heights qualified two golfers for the state tournament. Lyla Blair and Lauryn Valdivia will represent the Thunderbirds after taking seventh and 12th place in regionals.
Class 4A
The defending Class 4A State Champions return with a chance of having another impressive week of play. Hayden won the regional title on Monday off of a tie-breaker against McPherson. Lauren Borjon and Izzy Glotzbach are both ranked inside the top-10 of Class 4A players. They are one of two pairs of players placed in the top-10. The other pair is McPherson’s Brodie Kuhn and Andy Buschbom.
Glotzbach was the top golfer from last year’s state title winning-team. She took ninth place overall. Borjon placed 15th overall to help, too. Addyson Baer also featured on last year’s state championship team. Baer led the team at regionals on Monday with a fifth place finish. Brooke Johnson, Nora Allphin and Kellyn Specht round out the team that is hoping to repeat as champions.
Class 3-1A
Silver Lake returns the state tournament after earning the title last season. They won try 22 strokes over Colby and they have another deep roster this fall. Silver Lake’s top five players rank inside the top-30 Class 3-1A rankings.
They are highlighted by senior Taylor Zordel. Silver Lake’s No. 1 golfer secured fourth place last season. She will be battling it out with last year’s individual state champion Margaret Ulrich. She won by nine shots over Zordel last season, but the Silver Lake player has improved.
Zordel will try and push for the team title, too. Kailyn Hanni has become the second best player on the roster. She took 30th in the state tournament last year. Hanni took second place behind Zordel at regionals. Third place at regionals fell to Hope Thornton, who has been playing great in her final season with Silver Lake. Savannah Wende, Makennaa Miller and Alyssa Streit round out the team that will try to win another state title for Silver Lake.
Locations for KSHSAA girls golf state championship
Class 6A: Carey Park Golf Course, Hutchinson
Class 5A: Salina Municipal Golf Course, Salina
Class 4A: Hesston Golf Course, Hesston
Class 3-1A: Emporia Municipal Golf Course, Emporia
Date and start times for state golf
Monday, Oct. 21: 9 a.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 22: 9 a.m.
Liam Keating covers high school sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: KSHSAA girls golf: Previewing the state championships
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