“Even when they [Webskowski and Panka] have a bad hole, they bounce right back, and there’s nothing that gets them too high or too low,” Marshall head coach Eric Novosad said. “They just kind of stay in the moment and keep going, so their consistency really kind of kept them going.”

Panka shot a 8-over 80 on Wednesday, the third-best round of the day among the 44 golfers who made the cut. Her round was highlighted by a birdie on hole 7 and 10 pars. The performance brought her to a two-day total of 165, tying Paynesville’s Peyton Roeske and Minnewaska Area’s Ava Kollman for fifth place.

“It feels great, two PRs on two different days on sections felt good, and I’m excited to go with Dayton for, what, like her [third] time?” Panka said, noting that each of her two rounds at section were a personal record at the time of the round. “I think just putting a little bit of extra work, playing with a chip on my shoulder and just having the confidence in knowing that I can play good and play with all the good girls [allowed me to peak at the right time].”

Webskowski has been a regular near the top of the section tournament the last few years, and this time around was no different. The senior and Southwest Minnesota State University Golf-commit placed fourth in Wednesday’s tournament with a two-day score of 164.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior Dayton Webskowski chips a shot onto the 18th green of Oakdale Golf Club during the Section 3AA girls golf championships, Wednesday in Buffalo Lake.

Webskowski was 11-over after the front 9 in the final day of competition, but she found her rhythm on the back 9, logging seven pars in her final nine holes to end the day at 13-over 85.

“I think it’s good to know that I’m continuing [to state] and that this is not the end, but it is pretty sad ending it,” Webskowski said. “I think just staying positive all the time [helped my consistency the last few years], whether that’s at practice or during the round. Things like that, just to keep pushing myself to move forward and continue to grow and get better.”

As a team, Marshall shot a 716 across the two days of the tournament to finish as the runners-up, beating out third-place New London-Spicer by 15 strokes and trailing only Minnewaska Area’s 637.

Webskowski was one of two seniors on the team, along with Emry Weller. While Weller wasn’t a scoring member of the team last year, she made major strides to become a key contributor in her senior season. That trend remained true into the section championship, where she shot a 26-over on Wednesday to close the tournament with 192 strokes, tying for 21st place in a field that originally contained 81 golfers.

“[Weller and Webskowski’s] ability to rally around their teammates and keep all of their teammates grounded has been immense,” Novosad said of his seniors. “That takes really good leadership to just keep everybody positive and keep everybody in a nice, comfortable mindset, and those two have done that since day 1.”

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior Emry Weller shoots from the fairway during the 3AA girls golf championships, Wednesday at Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake.

Isabella Gossen also put together a strong final round to round out Marshall’s scorers, shooting a 26-over to finish the tournament in 26th at 195.

While not counting toward the team score, Kathryn Gordon also placed 33rd at 201 after her 29-over Wednesday, and Anna Thor placed 41st with a 218 after shooting 44-over in the final round.

Missions accomplished

Entering the season, Marshall’s three goals were to shoot under 350 as a team, win the Big South Conference Championship and place top 3 in the section championship, Novosad said. The team accomplished the first goal in its first meet of the season, edged out Fairmont by a single stroke to win the conference title on May 11 and now has hit the trifecta with Wednesday’s runner-up finish.

“I think we all just stuck with working hard and not giving up during the round,” Webskowski said. “Just during practice, we always push ourselves to get better and stay good.”

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Isabella Gossen takes a shot from the fairway during Wednesday's 3AA girls golf championships at Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake.

Up next

Wednesday’s meet marks the end of the season for the bulk of Marshall’s roster, and the end of a prep career for Weller. Still, Panka and Webskowski still have more golf yet to play in the season.

The Tiger duo now prepares to take on the Class AA state tournament at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan, Monday, June 9. Individual girls begin to tee off at noon, with specific tee times and starting holes yet to be announced. Tee times for Day 2 will be determined based on the leaderboard at the end of day 1. Webskowski placed 35th out of 88 golfers in last year’s state tournament, and 52nd in her sophomore-year state debut in 2024.