NorthWood’s Mackenzie Weaver tracks her shot during back nine play at the East Noble Golf Regional at Noble Hawk in Kendallville Saturday. (Photos by James Costello)

KENDALLVILLE — It’s been a long wait for NorthWood junior Mackenzie Weaver since she last went to state. After more than seven hours playing in the grueling heat at Noble Hawk, Weaver had to wait a little bit longer to find out her fate Saturday.

The verdict? She’s back.

Weaver carded 78 to tie with Angola’s Gabby Kelly for the last of five individual tickets to next weekend’s state finals at the East Noble Golf Regional. After advancing with her team to the 2015 state meet, Weaver fell two strokes short of grabbing a solo berth at last year’s regional, and she was overjoyed when she heard the big news Saturday.

“You go out there and you put in hours of practice, and you work really hard and you do all these practice rounds and then to finally go, it feels like it was all worth it,” said Weaver. “Definitely worth the wait.”

Northridge’s Braedyn O’Dell and Penn’s Lyvia Li both carded 73, and Fort Wayne Bishop Luers’ Madeleine Pape shot 75 for the first three berths for individuals from non-advancing teams. Paced by low medalist Emma Schroeder’s round of 67, Homestead earned the team title with a 296 score, well ahead of Dekalb’s 317, while Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger shot 326 for the last of three team berths to the state meet at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel. Penn fell a stroke shy of Dwenger’s tally, and NorthWood finished out the season in fifth place with a very respectable 335.

With the Lady Panthers already out of contention and numerous scores remaining to be filled out on the leaderboard inside the Noble Hawk clubhouse, Weaver waited anxiously to see if her 78 would be enough. Li, Pape and Kelly had already finished, but O’Dell had yet to turn in her score, and Weaver knew the Northern Lakes Conference Tournament medalist would likely be in the hunt. NorthWood coach Adam Yoder moved in and out of the clubhouse, doing a little detective work and reporting back to his No. 1.

When he finally told Weaver the good news, it was with a playful twist.

“I was just trying to be patient and hopeful. I went out there and tried to play as well as I could,” Weaver said. “I guess I knew when my coach came over and being the stinker that he is told me ‘You have to go into a playoff.’ That’s the first thing he said to me, and then he went ‘Just kidding.’”

Overcome with emotion, Weaver slid her sunglasses down over her eyes to cover tears of joy.

“She was outstanding. She just hung in there,” said Yoder of Weaver. “I’m not sure she would say that she hit it the best all day, but she did something that she’s really worked hard on in the last year, and that is salvaging some holes when you don’t have it as well. She had a huge up and down on 16 for par, and I think that was a huge point in the round. I couldn’t be prouder of her.”

Madison Richner hits a chip shot.

Behind Weaver’s 78, seniors Madison Richner and Hope Cripe closed out their NorthWood careers with strong scores of 83 and 87, respectively. Abby Slabaugh carded 87 alongside Cripe, and Makenna Gall’s toss-out score was only two strokes back as the Panthers concluded the year on a high note. Their 335 may not have made the cut out to state, but their coach couldn’t have asked for more from the quintet, who fired a team-low for the season and a score just one stroke short of the program’s record in unforgiving conditions in a high-stakes atmosphere.

“That played out about as I expected. Dekalb played an outstanding round, and that was kind of who we were shooting to catch,” explained Yoder of the team standings.

“For us to get down to 326, our program record is 325 with a lot more firepower. Not that we don’t have great kids now, but it’s just a different style of play that we have now. It was our lowest round of the year by far. One girl in the 70s and four girls in the 80s. It is what it is. That’s a great season for us.”

Warsaw shot 373 to finish in 14th place in the Lady Tigers’ second straight regional appearance. The team’s lone senior Delaney Wihebrink led the Tigers at Noble Hawk with a 92 in a fine bookend to her career. Isabel Ray and Miriam Hagg turned in a pair of 93s, and Madelyn Ray shot 95 to complete the Tigers’ score. Grayson Kilburn shot 104.

Delaney Wihebrink hits an iron.

Lakeland Christian’s Abigail Fishel shot 93 after earning an individual appointment at the East Noble tourney during last Saturday’s Warsaw Sectional.

Although she may be the only Panther to advance to the IHSAA tournament finale — which is scheduled for round one Friday at 8:30 a.m. and a second round at the same time Saturday — Weaver may have some company from her teammates at the big meet.

“We’ll see how it goes. Maybe some of them will try to get the day off on Friday. We’ll go down on Thursday and practice and then two rounds Friday and Saturday, but high school kids always want to get out of school so they’ll be begging to go down there on Friday, I’m sure,” Yoder said with a chuckle.

Abigail Fishel works on the front side at Noble Hawk.

NorthWood’s Hope Cripe hits a shot while Manchester’s Cora Barnett looks on.