COLUMBUS – In her coach’s eyes, Mandy Ruminski is one-of-a-kind.
The Lexington senior qualified for state all four years. She did it in two different divisions, representing Div. II Shelby her freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Div. I Lexington for her junior and senior seasons.
“It doesn’t happen very often, especially considering she came here with two different schools in two different divisions,” Lexington head coach Mike Kathrein said. “That doesn’t happen very often – in fact, I don’t know if it’s ever happened before.”
Ruminski wrote the final chapter in her storied high school golf career this weekend at Ohio State University’s Gray Course, where she tied for sixth place out of 71 competitors. It marked her third all-Ohio finish in four years.
“I was hoping for one year, I’d do a little bit better,” Ruminski said afterwards. “But it’s definitely an accomplishment – I mean, it was hard to get here from districts, just because of the playoff that I had to go through. So I think overall, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’ve been here four years.”
It took Ruminski 151 strokes to complete 36 holes this weekend, finishing 11-over-par and 10 strokes behind champion Madison Spiess of New Albany. The Lexington senior fired a 74 on Friday and a 77 on Saturday.
She and every other golfer battled haphazard conditions this weekend, with temperatures in the upper-70s on Friday and low-40s on Saturday. The wind both days impacted tee shots, and Friday night’s rainstorm made putting greens soggy and sand traps sticky on the tournament’s final day.
Still, Ruminski said she felt disappointed in her performance. After firing four birdies on Friday, she managed just two on Saturday. The back-nine proved particularly difficult, as Ruminski suffered bogeys on four holes.
“I was kind of just all over the place with everything. I mean, my driver definitely put me in a lot of tough positions. But today, I had a few three-putts – yesterday, I didn’t have any …” said Ruminski, who had dreams of winning her first state title. “Everything that went wrong today was my own fault, so you can’t really blame it on the weather.”
Her own disappointment aside, Ruminski nailed several big shots this weekend, including a long putt on the second hole Saturday to give her a birdie. She owned the fifteenth hole in particular, recording birdies both days.
“What I found impressive was her demeanor, keeping her composure when she didn’t hit necessarily the best shot,” Kathrein said. “When things weren’t going her way and there was a realization that she wasn’t going to win – because I think that was a realistic goal for her, was to win this – when she realized that wasn’t gonna happen, and still saying focused and finishing very well down the stretch.
“That speaks well of her and it shows the growth from a year ago to this year. That was good of her.”
ARROWS FINISH STRONG: Ruminski wasn’t the only area golfer in action this weekend. Ashland sent both of its teams to state, with the boys finishing eighth and the girls placing 11th in Div. I.
The boys were led by junior Tyler Sabo, who tied for seventh overall with a tournament-total 151. He shot a 75 on Friday and a 76 on Saturday, earning all-Ohio honors for the second straight year.
“I didn’t think I played that great this weekend, considering how I’d been playing earlier this season,” Sabo said afterwards. “It’s kind of a disappointment to me, but I know I still played good enough to get top-10 in this tournament … The course setup’s super hard, and to get top-10, it’s a still good feeling.”
Sabo finished nine-over-par on OSU’s Scarlet Course, eight strokes back from champion Jordan Gilkison, of Springboro. He was flanked by senior Aiden Baker, who fired a 78 both days, tying for 22nd overall. Baker executed two birdies on Saturday, including one on the final hole of his high school career.
“That’s two good scores on this golf course, when the conditions are like this,” Ashland head coach Dan Priest said of Baker’s 78s. “And he just wanted it – you could just tell, he wanted it so bad his senior year.”
Ryan Frazee, the team’s fifth golfer, placed third on Saturday after firing an 81. He improved 15 strokes from Friday to Saturday.
“Ryan had an 81 for our fifth man,” Priest said excitedly. “I’m not gonna go up there and see, but I think there’s probably not too many fifth men that are gonna be shooting 81 on a day like today.”
Kamden Mowry fired a 83 on the second day after shooting a 81 on the first. Aidan Chandler followed up his 90 on Friday with a 89 on Saturday.
Priest said he was proud of his team’s effort this weekend, despite the treacherous conditions. He was particularly proud of the seniors, Baker and Frazee, who finished strong on the state’s biggest stage.
“I think they’ll take a lot away from it. They’re gonna remember this the rest of their lives,” he said. “It’s been a great experience for them.”
Ashland finished 36 strokes behind Div. I champion Akron Archbishop Hoban this weekend. While eighth place marked an improvement over last year’s 11th-place finish, Priest said the team still felt slightly disappointed in its overall performance this time around.
“I think we played better today. But for the weekend, I think we played just average,” Priest said. “Yesterday was kind of a tougher day. Today, the kids came back and fought through the wind, fought through the coldness, and seemed to play a little bit better today … They seemed to be a little bit more on their games today.”
Priest expects the team to contend for its third straight state appearance next fall, given the talent returning. It won’t be easy, however.
“It’s gonna take the same hard work that these kids seem to want to put in,” Priest said. “And we should – we get three of them back next year, and the other one was our sixth man, who came with us. So I think we have a good shot at getting back, we’ve just gotta put some things together and work on some things.”
The Ashland girls, meanwhile, placed 11th in their fourth straight state appearance, 111 strokes behind champion New Albany. They were led by senior Kira Moore, who tied for 33rd after firing a 78 on Friday and a 84 on Saturday.
“In my opinion, golf is pretty bipolar …” Moore said afterwards. “Yesterday, my short-game was amazing. Today, I struggled with it a lot. And I know a lot of people struggled with putting today – just keeping your hands warm, things like that. But my regular tee shots and approach shots were a lot better today, compared to yesterday.”
Moore seemed reflective after her fourth consecutive state performance. She took inventory of the hard work and good fortune it took to get there.
“It’s pretty awesome, just to be down here and have that experience (for) four years. I know a lot of people don’t get to experience that, and it’s neat to see the progress I make and how the course changes, in a way, from tee boxes to pin positions, things like that,” Moore said. “It’s pretty awesome.”
Moore said she told the team’s younger golfers to soak it all in, because opportunities like these don’t come often.
“It’s just awesome to be here because, what’s after this? Nothing,” Moore said. “It’s going back out and practicing more.”
Moore’s teammates seemed to take her advice. Junior Klaira Paramore, in her third straight state trip, shot a 82 both days and finished tied for 37th. Seniors Sarah Anderson and Olivia Sponsler finished 52nd and 66th, respectively. Anderson went 84-91, while Sponsler went 103-99. Sophomore Emma Packard placed 69th after going 97-109 this weekend.
“It was a real challenge to get here – and that was our goal, to get here,” Ashland head coach Tom Marquette said. “So we accomplished that goal. And then just trying to come here this weekend and play our best. It’s a long, rigorous three days of ups and downs. And we didn’t play our greatest, but we came and we competed.
“We had fun and enjoyed the experience – I think that’s probably the biggest thing.”
Marquette credited Moore and the rest of the senior class for establishing Ashland as a state golf power over the last four years.
“She’s been a big part of the four-year run,” the coach said of Moore, who recently committed to Huntington University. “She’s been here every year and I would say that without her being in the program, it would’ve been a real challenge for us to get here. So she gave our program a big boost, and obviously there were other outstanding players to go along with her.
“When you have that core of really sound, talented players, then you just kind of have to fill in around them to make it happen.”
Making it out of districts is becoming harder and harder, Marquette said, as the field grows more competitive. With four seniors on this year’s team, he said making it back to Columbus next fall – for the fifth straight year – will not be an easy task.
“I think the district is getting more and more competitive, so we have our work cut out for us in the future,” Marquette said. “We had four seniors on the team, and it’s gonna leave a big hole next year, so we’re gonna have to get to work. If we’re gonna expect to get back here next year, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
