Earlier this month, Columbus East looked to have beaten Columbus North for the first time in eight years, but a scoring error led to a disqualification and allowed the Bull Dogs to finish ahead of the Olympians in the Bloomington North Invitational.
Monday, on the same Cascades Golf Course, the roles were reversed. Co-No. 19 Columbus North looked to have won its ninth consecutive sectional title, but after a scoring error led to the disqualification of one of its scores, East claimed its first sectional since 1991.
“It’s kind of the same situation that (East’s) Carter (Gant in the Bloomington North Invitational) was in,” East coach Kylie Weichman said. “It’s never easy. It’s not anything we want to do. We really respect Columbus North. They have a very strong golf program. They always have had… but we need to acknowledge when there’s been an error in scoring.”
The Olympians finished with a 344 team total, while the Bull Dogs took second with a 352. Martinsville claimed the third and final qualifying spot to Saturday’s Washington Regional with a 368.
Senior Harley Gant led the Olympians with an 80.
“Our main goal was to try and compete with North, and in the end, we did,” Harley Gant said. “We just didn’t perform our best Tuesday, and just to come out here and perform a whole lot better was really motivating for all of us.”
Carter Gant carded an 83 for East. Peyton Meier added an 86, Lilly Steinwedel shot 95 and Katie Hong had a 96.
“I said at the beginning of the season we had some pretty lofty goals, and this is one that we set for our team,” Weichman said. “The girls’ hard work paid off in less than favorable conditions today, but everybody was playing the same course, and I was just really proud of our girls. We talked a lot about mental toughness this week, and they just stayed focused and mentally tough and went out and played well enough to secure the victory.”
Senior Gwen Anderson fired a 3-over-par 74 to win medalist honors and lead the Bull Dogs.
“The course was pretty wet today, and I feel like I played it well, but I also lost a lot of strokes,” Anderson said. “I was striking the ball pretty well, but a lot of my putts just weren’t falling. I feel like I had a lot of birdie and par opportunities that I just missed.”
Ella Wilks added an 84, Macy Euler shot 90 and Erin Hopkins had a 104 for the Bull Dogs. Ritisha Rashmil shot 92, which would have given Columbus North a 340, but signed for a 91, leading to the disqualification.
“We’ll learn from it, and we won’t make that mistake again,” North coach Scott Seavers said. “The ultimate goal is to move on. I don’t think we played our best golf today. We have some improvements to make, and we’ll work on that this week.”
Brown County finished sixth with a 404. Annika Evenson led the Eagles with a 95, while Lilly VanNess carded a 100, Ainslie Winton added a 103, Hannah deWeerdt shot 106 and Abby Padgett had a 108.
“We started on the Pines Nine, and traditionally, that has been a little bit more difficult for us,” Brown County coach Brad Baughman said. “We kind of struggled out there, and then once the girls kind of got into a little rhythm and were less nervous, they played a much better round on the Quarry Nine. We kind of finished right about where our numbers would have us finish. We were steadily getting better. We had some good nine-hole rounds, but we may have peaked a couple weeks ago in terms of scores.”
Edinburgh finished ninth with a 474. Izzy Richardson led the Lancers with a 106, while Jillian Turner added a 117, Gracie Myers shot 118 and Cloee Brittonn had a 133.
