This year, Westminster placed third overall in the district tournament as a team with a score of 381. While there was no sectional tournament this year due to COVID-19, the top 18 individuals were still able to qualify for state and play in the individual tournament at Meadow Lake Acres Country Club.

The conditions at the state golf tournament in New Bloomfield, MO were less than ideal. Cold, wet conditions made for an interesting two day, 36 hole event at Meadow Lake Acres Country Club, just north of Jefferson City. With rain early in the day and wind howling throughout, Ellie Johnson, junior, still performed well and placed high on the leaderboard.

This is not the first year that the weather has affected the state golfers. In fact, it has been worse in the past three years. Regardless, Johnson put up some of her best scores of the year, finishing fifth out of more than 75 athletes.

Johnson put together two sub-80 rounds to finish on the podium. With a score of 79 on Monday and 78 on Tuesday, her final score included an eagle to shoot a 157 for the tournament.

Not only did Ellie perform well, but her senior mentor Morgan McKee also played through the tough conditions. McKee placed 26th overall and placed better than over half of the field for this specific tournament.

“I knew it was going to be windy, so I was researching if the grass goes back this far (when I toss it), how much do I need to take off of the club, so I think I did pretty well considering the wind,” Johnson said.

Although the conditions and the circumstances were anything but ideal, the Westminster Wildcats still made their presence known at the state tournament. Even though the girls golf team is losing one of their senior leaders, the future of the team is still bright for the years to come.