Girls golf wins Regionals, State bound

Julianna Poe, Trending Editor

After a 5-3 season of first and second-place, the Manhattan High Varsity girls golf team took first yet again by a five-stroke margin at Regionals.

“[It feels] pretty darn awesome,” head coach Paige McCarthy said. “The girls did great. They played really tough.”

On Monday, the girls traveled to play the Prairie Highlands golf course in a seven-team tournament hosted by Olathe West. A total of 41 golfers competed to win the Regional champion title.

As a team, Manhattan High won by a score of 350, with Lawrence Free-State and Olathe Northwest trailing close behind with scores of 355 and 357.

“As a team, we placed first, which was kind of unexpected,” senior Andi Siebert said. “We were in a different Regionals than we normally are, [which] had harder competition because it was with all the Olathe schools.’

Siebert led the team with an 84, tying for first place. Ultimately, Siebert medaled for second after losing the playoff hole to determine the overall winner by one stroke against senior Madelyn Luttjohann from Washburn Rural.

“I was really nervous,” Siebert said. “My first shot [in the playoff] was terrible and it went into the leaves, … but I kept pushing through … and at the end it was pretty close.”

Not far from Siebert, senior Aben “A.J.” Ryan tied for fifth with an 87 and senior Rhys Phipps tied for ninth with an 89. In addition, seniors Emily Yerman and Jaiden Weixelman secured scores of 90 and 104. On average, the girls shot a score of 91 as a team.

“[Tying for fifth] was crazy,” Ryan said. “I wasn’t really thinking about individual places because we were so focused on the team scores, so it was a surprise.”

This Monday, Manhattan High will hit the road one last time this season to compete at State as the first-seed team in Hesston. Monday’s results will determine which teams will qualify for round two the following day.

“Everyone going [to State] will be a senior,” Ryan said. “I think we’re all just really excited, but we also don’t want [our last] season to be over.”