WORTHINGTON — The Worthington Trojans split a boys and girls golf matchup with Big South Conference rival Marshall on Friday. The Trojans girls team won their meet with a season low score of 196. The Trojans boys team shaved strokes off their game, but came up three shy with a score of 161.
The Tigers boys team scored 158. The Tigers girls team scored 202.
The Trojan boys were led by the surging duo of Tyler Jaycox and Owen Powers. The pair tied for the highest score of WHS with 38 strokes each.
Powers, a junior at WHS, struggled at the start of the golf season. An improper movement during the backswing of his drive caused his shots to run errant. But on Monday in the first of four Big South Conference matches Powers tied for fourth in the conference with a score of 38.
“It came with my driver. I was hitting my driver bad, I found that out and now I have been playing good golf,” said Powers. “I was slicing quite a bit, it was hooking to the left too. … My backswing was screwing me up.”
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Tyler Jaycox admits the start of the golf season was not how he imagined his senior season would go, but on the course he has played an estimated 1,000 times, he looked right at home.
“I was in a little slump earlier but I am back up now,” said Jaycox. “You recognize a lot of the holes and then know what shots to hit.”
Jaycox and Powers communicated throughout the game to help each other fight the wind. The two also enjoyed the competition with the Marshall golfers who they characterized as outstanding golfers.
Andrew Mulder scored 42 for the Trojans. Spenser Braaksma shot a 43 and Spenser Nickel scored 50.
The medalist was Marshall sophomore Luke Ehlers who scored 36. Jayden Manthei scored 39, Sam Schwarz 41, Joey Fossum 42 and Drew Parsons 50.
The Trojans girls golf team is seasoned. They have four varsity members that are seniors and have competed with one another their whole athletic careers at WHS. The fifth member, junior Madison Beckmann, has competed at the state level and is an accomplished golfer. Sophomore Claire Mahlberg is also an up-and-comer for the team and can put together a nice series of strokes.
The Trojans girls golf team had not scored under 200 yet this season, and in a nasty wind senior Ellie Weg said that the expectation was for the score to remain above that mark.
“I thought the weather was going to be more of a problem than it was so we were (content) going into this and doing our best — and I guess it was our best so it worked out,” said Weg. “All of us get along so well and we have so much fun together so it adds so much more.”
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The medalist for the meet was Marshall freshman Dayton Webskowski who shot 46. Lilly Mahlberg scored 47 and Beckmann scored 49. Tarren Spartz and Ellie Weg scored 50 apiece. Claire Mahlberg scored 56 and Mia Nixon scored 57.
“As a team we all did super well. We stayed under 200 so that was exciting. And me personally I shot a 50 — that is pretty good for me usually I am around 55 range,” said Weg. “Obviously it is home field advantage. You know the course and how well the green and stuff is so that is helpful.”
The leading girls junior varsity scorers for WHS were Abryona Erwin and Regan Schaefer with 57 apiece. Callie Rosenberg shot 71 and Jayden Spartz scored 75.
The boys and girls golf teams gave back to their home course earlier in the week on Wednesday’s practice by picking up fallen sticks and other winter debris.
The Trojans golf team's next meet is the second installment of the Big South Conference meets on Monday.
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