MASSILLON — The Legends of Massillon Division I District was expected to be a wild race Tuesday, but no one could have predicted this.
Standout Highland girls golfer Madison Butler tied four others for medalist honors with a 1-over-par 73 on a gloomy, windy day in Stark County, while All-Gazette teammates Alicia Porvasnik (76) and Christina Williams (79) gave the Hornets the distinction as the only team out of 16 to have three players in the 70s.
The catch is the top four scores count in high school golf. Suburban League American Division champion Highland didn’t get another below 100 and finished at 331 — seven strokes off a state tournament berth and 11th place in a historically deep field.
The final minutes of scoreboard-watching at the Legends of Massillon Golf Club felt like a bad dream.
“This is the first year (since 2008) that we haven’t made it as a team, so obviously we’re all a little disappointed,” Butler said moments before receiving a hug from Massillon Jackson No. 1 Hannah Lemons. “Me going as an individual is definitely something new, but I’m excited.
“The team tried really hard today. It was definitely tough conditions being cold and windy and the greens being aerated (two weeks ago). We tried our hardest. We just couldn’t do it.”
GlenOak (318), Avon (318), Green (321), Jackson (323) and Dover (325) advanced on a day in which 11 teams shot 339 or lower. That had been the average fifth score since the number of state qualifiers from the district expanded to five in 2011.
Just as remarkable, Porvasnik’s very solid 76 wasn’t good enough individually, as Boardman’s Jactina Pikunas and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin’s Reva Morris outlasted Solon’s Jessica Wang in a playoff after all three players shot 74. For comparison’s sake, 77 was the top individual qualifying score when Porvasnik’s sister, Jessica, was a sophomore in 2010.
Though Butler flashed a few smiles knowing she was headed to Columbus next week, the other Highland players were in shock. Coach Mary Becker told them they needed to use that heartbreak as motivation a la Green, which finished one stroke shy of a state berth in 2014 and played with a collective chip on its shoulder this fall.
“We just talked and said we’re not going to hang our heads,” Becker said. “We played good. We just didn’t play good enough. There was a lot of great competition today.”
The consolation prize was Butler, who further cemented her place among the Northeast Ohio elite by matching Roosevelt’s Kory Nielsen, GlenOak’s Jessica Hahn, Green’s Abbie Pearce and Boardman’s Jenna Vivo atop the leaderboard.
Butler, a 5-foot-6 junior, had another consistent day with 15 pars, two bogeys and one birdie. The three-year starter readily laughed after “dribbling” the ball off the fourth tee of the East Course early in her round, but rebounded with a birdie three holes later and recorded par on 10 of her final 11.
“(The scores) were crazy,” Butler said. “I was talking to someone, and they were like, ‘This is basically the state tournament.’ These are the top teams. With our district being so good, there are a lot of good teams that sadly don’t make it out of here.”
Wadsworth star Secilia Ho couldn’t get any momentum going and finished with an 85. The freshman tied for eighth out of 16 unattached players.
“I thought it was an awesome experience because I never thought I would make it this far,” she said. “It was really fun.
“My team supported me throughout the whole day. As I was playing, they were texting my coach (Joe Gaudio) and asking, ‘Oh, how’s she doing?’ while they were at school. It was really cool.”
Contact Albert Grindle at sports@medina-gazette.com.
Results
MASSILLON — Results from the Legends of Massillon Division I District at par-72 Legends of Massillon Golf Club’s South and East courses:
Team standings (top 5 advance to Oct. 23-24 state tournament): 1. GlenOak 318, 2. Avon 318, 3. Green 321, 4. Massillon Jackson 323, 5. Dover 325, 6. Solon 326, 7. Kent Roosevelt 329, 8. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 330, 9. Hathaway Brown 330, 10. Boardman 330, 11. Highland 331, 12. Walsh Jesuit 340, 13. Canfield 359, 14. Magnificat 365, 15. Avon Lake 369, 16. Brecksville 393.
Individual qualifiers: Jenna Vivo (Bo) 73, Kory Nielsen (R) 73, Madison Butler (Hi) 73, Jacinta Pikunas (Bo) 74, Reva Morris (NDCL) 74.
Highland (331): Madison Butler 73, Alicia Porvasnik 76, Christina Williams 79, Ruby Swan 103, Sara Haller 108.
Other county participant: Secilia Ho (Wadsworth) 85.