Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior Dayton Webskowski hits a fairway wood on the fairway of the ninth hole during the Class AA girls golf tournament, Wednesday at Ridges at Sand Creek Golf Course in Jordan.

JORDAN — Dayton Webskowski put together a solid round in her final meet as a Marshall Tiger on Wednesday. The senior standout cut off a pair of strokes from her day-1 performance at the Class AA girls state golf tournament to finish the meet in 32nd place.

“We had two different days. Like our day yesterday didn’t quite go how we wanted it to, and today Dayton definitely played better,” Marshall head coach Novosad said, adding that she was more consistent and loose on the course as she overcame the hot weather.

In addition to Webskowski playing in the state meet for the final time, Marshall also had junior Maddi Panka making her state-tournament debut, placing 71st at 187.

“It’s definitely not how I wanted to do, but I think the best part of my game today was my putting,” Panka said. “Just knowing that if I got on the green, I could two-putt, most of the time. I think just the experience of having the pressure and being able to golf with so many other top players in the state was definitely an experience. I really hope to be back next year.”

“It’s an experience being here for the first time… understanding that you have to kind of pick your shots. That’s a big part of the game, and it’s a course that’s not very forgiving,” Novosad said. “She definitely learned from her experience here. Next year, if everything goes well, get back here and then she knows the course better.”

Webskowski entered Wednesday in 36th with 85 strokes, but she carded the 26th-best round in the 88-player field on Wednesday to finish with a two-day score of 168.

“I think that I’ve played this course enough that I kind of know my way around it. I just knew what I did wrong yesterday and how I could fix it today, so just striking the ball a little better helped a lot,” Webskowski said.

On the front 9, Webskowski logged a birdie and five pars to go into the turn at 4-over.

Panka entered the day in 71st after shooting a 21-over 93 on Tuesday, and she closed out the tournament with a 22-over 94 on Wednesday. While the course, wind and heat made things difficult at times, Panka still put together strong stretches, such as when she logged four pars in her first seven holes.

Playing on a tough course, some of the holes on which Panka struggled mess with her momentum at points. Novosad said the key going forward for Panka is just going to be able to let those bad holes go and move on to the next one.

“I think that the more she matures as a golfer, that will get better,” Novosad said. “Just go to the next one, erase it, kind of start fresh. That’s the key to golf, as soon as you forget the previous hole and go to the next hole, you have a fresh start.”

Over her time with the varsity team, Webskowski has made four state tournament appearances as an individual. While she’s done competing at the high school level, she’ll get to keep competitively golfing next year when she joins the Southwest Minnesota State University womens team.

“It was pretty sad, but exciting for the future because I’m not done playing,” Webskowski said of her emotions leading into the round. “But it is sad that this is all coming to an end now.”

“Dayton’s been the model golfer. She’s one of the best teammates that I’ve seen come out of the Marshall program,” Novosad said. “She’s always positive, always wanting to have fun, she’s absolutely going to be missed 100% next year. She set the standard for the girls to come to realize that this is how to work hard and how to get to that next level. We’ll miss her next year and I’m just so super proud of her and super proud of the accomplishments she’s had here.”

Several golfers near the leaderboard were still competing at the time of print. Final results will be updated on the Independent’s website.