The Bay Port girls golf team entered the WIAA Division 1 state tournament this week with the goal of winning the first championship in program history.
If not for Divine Savior Holy Angels, it would have done it.
The Pirates finished runner-up to the Dashers, finishing with a two-day score of 645 at University Ridge in Madison. DSHA, which won its fourth straight state championship, had a 634.
No team in either D1 or D2 had a better second day than Bay Port, which shot a 309.
It was two strokes better than DSHA and at least seven strokes better than the rest of the 16 squads competing on the big stage.
“I couldn’t be more happy with the response after yesterday,” Bay Port coach Mitch Meyer said. “Today showed kind of what I have seen all year. They all just kind of put those good rounds together. It happened to only be for one of the two days, but they were really gritty and hit some huge, clutch shots down the stretch that helped us to kind of seal it.
“It was close all the way till the last group was on 18.”
Bay Port was making its 10th straight trip to state and had one of its best performances.
The Pirates’ top team score came during the alternate spring season in 2021, when they also placed runner-up with a 641.
They had the two best individual scores of any local golfers this time around.
Senior Madelyn Gicius finished tied for seventh overall with a 150, 12 strokes behind state champion McKenna Nelson of Beaver Dam.
Fellow Bay Port senior Myah Johnson was 13th with a 156.
The duo came up big not just in the tournament overall, but on the final hole of their careers to help hold off DeForest and secure the runner-up trophy.
“Going into 18, both of them, we needed their scores,” Meyer said. “They knew we needed their scores. Myah ended up hitting a bomb drive and then stuck a shot to five feet and nailed the birdie putt in front of the big crowd on 18.
“As we were walking up, she was talking about how nervous she was to even play 18, it being her last high school hole and everyone watching.”
Meyer told Johnson to just go play the hole and they could worry about everything else later.
She responded with a clutch performance.
As for Gicius?
She has been extremely steady since the day Meyer took over as the coach three years ago. She almost never needs help.
“She had hit kind of an errant drive [on 18], not super in trouble but she was going to have to hit a punch shot,” Meyer said. “For the first time in three years, she asked me for advice and ended up hitting a better punch shot than I talked to her about, and then a great chip to like two feet and got up and down for par to seal it for us.”
Two other local players placed in the top 20 in D1.
Green Bay Preble co-op senior Emma Cunningham tied for 14th (157), while De Pere senior Emma Hudson was 16th (158).
In D2, Seymour junior Lyla Schueler placed seventh with a 168 to help the Thunder finish fourth in the team standings.
Wrightstown senior Ella Swanson was 12th with a 173, while Seymour junior Maci Heagle was 16th with a 176.
Local finishers
Division 1: Madelyn Gicius, Bay Port, 150; Myah Johnson, Bay Port, 156; Emma Cunningham, Green Bay Preble co-op, 157; Emma Hudson, De Pere, 158; Isabel Johnsen, Bay Port, 169; Avi Johnson, Bay Port, 170; Amelia Hogue, Ashwaubenon, 184.
Division 2: Lyla Schueler, Seymour, 168; Ella Swanson, Wrightstown, 173; Maci Heagle, Seymour, 176; Morgan Lewis, Seymour, 181; Monique Martinez, Seymour, 199; Ava Skenadore, Seymour, 215.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Bay Port girls golf finishes strong at WIAA state tournament