Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Here is a preview of each Press-area girls golf team that responded to our preseason survey in alphabetical order.
CLAY EAGLES
Clay girls golf head coach Kevin Crosson expects his team to compete for an NLL Cardinal Division title as he enters his 26th year leading the program.
Led by Tori Cousino, who is now golfing at Indiana Tech, last year’s team finished second in the division and fourth at the sectional and district tournaments. Cousino was the NLL Cardinal Division’s Co-Player of the Year, and she fell just two strokes shy of qualifying for the state tournament.
This year’s squad returns sophomore Kari Korsog, who was First Team All-NLL with a 47 average, and junior Carlie McGilvray, who was Second Team All-NLL with a 50 average. Korsog, and another returning junior Claire Martin, also nabbed Honorable Mention All-District accolades. Martin averaged 49, and fellow junior Cara Ellis is also back after averaging 53 a year ago.
Crosson is excited that he has 17 girls sign up for this year’s team, and he expects heavy competition among the entire squad.
“We should do well this year and compete for the Cardinal Division championship,” Crosson said. “The four returning varsity letterwinners have been working hard in the offseason. Time will tell if we have a newcomer to play at the five or six slot or maybe catapult their way up the rotation. Golf is a finicky game as far as one day to the next regarding the score. Hopefully, the team will have the confidence in their fundamentals and mindset to conquer all the challenges they will endeavor over the course of the season.”
GENOA COMETS
Second-year head coach Bob Long returns seniors Vedah Burdge and Lynde Hartman from a successful Genoa squad a year ago.
The Comets won the Lake Invitational, the Ottawa County Invitational and a pair of NBC Shootouts. They also recorded a second-place finish at another NBC Shootout and in the NBC Championship before finishing second overall in the league.
Burdge posted a nine-hole scoring average of 49 last year, and she is consistently shooting around 47 during the preseason this year. Meanwhile, Hartman averaged 50.5 per nine last year. She trimmed around 2.5 strokes off her average last year.
Both of them had medalist finishes in matches last season en route to Second Team All-NBC honors.
“Vedah is consistent with her driver and has a very good short game,” Long said. “She has worked hard to improve her game for the upcoming season. Lynde demonstrates outstanding power with her driver and long irons. She also has a good touch around the greens.”
That duo will be joined by a pair of rookies, Hazel Trainer and Payton Hill.
A key loss to graduation was Madi Mahler, who was First Team All-NBC. She medaled at the Ottawa County Invitational and two of the NBC Shootouts, and she had the team’s lowest scoring average.
Yet, Long says senior Leah Beard is back with two years of experience prior to being out last year due to injury. A pair of juniors, Brooklyn Pasty and Meredith Grosjean, are also back, as is sophomore Bella Ewerson.
“I have high hopes for this season,” Long said. “We have an experienced team.”
GIBSONBURG GOLDEN BEARS
Second-year head coach Mark Sworden will lead a young and inexperienced group at Gibsonburg that includes several star multi-sport athletes.
“Four of our five new golfers are new to the game,” Sworden said. “One of our newcomers has played plenty of golf, but this is her first year of high school competition. We are looking to improve daily, and hopefully by the end of the season, we are putting down competitive scores.”
Last year’s team finished seventh at the SBC River Division Championships before placing 12th in sectionals at Ironwood.
“We have players that have joined us from other sports here at Gibsonburg,” Sworden said. “Hopefully the success they had in their other sports, combined with their golf skills improving, can translate into success in the postseason this year.”
Senior Sydney Alldredge is the team’s top returner after averaging 65.1 strokes per nine holes last year, and she’ll be joined by five newcomers, including four who are new to the sport. They include seniors Elly Evarts and Harlow Mull, juniors Ava Amor and Alivia Wauford and sophomore Sofia Rogers.
“I expect them to learn and improve from the first day, hopefully putting down competitive scores by the end of the season,” Sworden said.
Those newcomers will help fill graduation losses from Emmerson Coe, Brynn Hoffman and Lilly Zweifel. Coe was a four-year letterwinner, and Hoffman lettered three times while nabbing Honorable Mention All-SBC recognition last year.
LAKE FLYERS
Eric Kunkelman, who initially coached the girls program at its inception in 2015 before returning in 2022, expects his team to have a real shot at its first-ever NBC title this fall.
“These girls have put in an enormous amount of work this summer to get us to this point, and none of it was mandatory,” he said. “When you see that kind of work from a team, you believe something special is going to happen. We regularly had eight to 10 girls out of 12 at three days a week for two months voluntarily come to practices, plus going out on their own.”
That environment has also led to the first-ever true JV team for the program.
“Our JV is putting in the same amount of work that our varsity is, and our future couldn’t be anymore surreal and exciting for Lake and myself as a coach. None of this is about myself, but it will always be about making these kids earn the things that they want through competitive challenges. We are all hungry and want to stand tall as we continue to build this program as a team.”
The Flyers will return every member of last year’s team that finished fourth in the NBC, but the program will have to adjust to playing in Division I instead of Division II.
“The lineup of teams that we face will likely humble us,” Kunkelman said.
Lake returns key upperclassmen in seniors Maddison Ankney and Norah Demory, as well as juniors Parker Dart and Myah Wypyhoski. All four also star in the school’s highly successful softball program.
Ankney has been a major varsity contributor in her first three seasons, a team captain the past two years and a Second Team All-NBC selection a year ago. Demory was an Honorable Mention All-NBC honoree last year, narrowly missing out on a second team selection.
“Norah is competitive enough to move herself to the front of the league’s top six this season,” Kunkelman said. “She is an elite softball player and works hard at everything she sets out to do. She is a leader on this team, and to have her decide to start golfing just last season, has been a true blessing.”
Another player relatively new to golf is Dart, who nabbed Honorable Mention All-NBC recognition in her first year last season.
“Parker is another elite softball player, so her time is divided as well, but her strength is just wanting to win,” Kunkelman said. “She also has all the potential to be in the top six.”
Wypyhoski is expected to be an all-league performer this year as Kunkelman loves her competitive work ethic.
“In all my years of coaching, my best golfers have always been softball players, and Myah is certainly no exception to that rule,” he said.
The varsity squad could add a pair of talented freshmen, Zia Smith and Keira Gerlach, as well. Smith is capable of averaging in the low 40s per nine holes, and Kunkelman said she has an incredible work ethic.
“Zia is a dual sport with volleyball but truly is driven to seek a golf scholarship offer,” he said. “With us moving up to Division I, it’s going to take somebody like Zia in order to be able to compete at that level.”
Gerlach joined the Lake school system within the past few years after moving from Canada and has only been golfing for two years, but Kunkelman said she has the potential to be a top league performer very soon.
“She is marked by her love for golfing and willingness to put a lot of time in on her own to be better every single day out,” he said. “We are expecting her to perform well in the NBC this season. With the combination of Keira and Zia, and a few other girls we have incoming, we find the future of Lake golf (to be bright) because of the amount of effort they put in.”
OAK HARBOR ROCKETS
Oak Harbor’s girls golf head coach Rob Hawn is going into his 10th season with the program with a positive outlook despite last year’s tough season.
“This season, we have a full team, plus options to replace golfers in the six-team roster that are not performing, unlike last season,” Hawn said. “The young team is eager to get varsity time, and it will create some competitiveness and allow the team to grow this season and improve quickly.”
The program graduated one senior, Elle Gardiner, who was named Second Team All-NBC and had a 56.2 nine-hole average last year. This year, Oak Harbor features a pair of returning seniors along with five freshmen.
The two seniors are Rosemary McHale, who in her first season last year finished with a 57.2 nine-hole average, and Olivia Vaness, who finished last season with a 66.1 nine-hole average. Along with these returners, Hawn said the freshmen group is learning fast and will place some pressure on the returners to improve.
While the team is looking to have a successful year, Hawn is eager to see how this team will set up the future of the program.
“We will work to have a great season, but that always comes with some struggle,” Hawn said. “Personally, I’m excited to see us commit to golf, build our game daily and improve from a winless season last year to grow Rocket golf for the future.”
WOODMORE WILDCATS
Rodger Jimison, who has led the girls golf program since 2019, features an experienced team this fall.
“The girls worked hard in the offseason,” he said. “Some played in summer tournaments. We will enter the season experienced, and we are looking forward to a great year with the changes that have happened in the SBC.”
Jimison has been at Woodmore for 14 years, having spent four years as the boys golf JV coach and six years as the varsity head boys golf coach prior to taking over the girls program.
Last year, his girls team finished seventh at the Division II sectional. The Wildcats will return Jordyn Dunn, Abbey Tucker, Lexi Martin, Liv Sentle and Emerie Kinn from that squad. Tucker and Dunn were the team’s top two golfers.
A pair of freshmen, Lucy Fulweber and Corrine Henn, will join the program as well, which will hopefully help to offset the loss of graduate Satori Alter, who was a great leader according to Jimison.
