Noah Bortle
Hannah Ingersoll was coming off back-to-back bogeys. She sat 4-over par and nowhere near the top of the leaderboard eight holes into the IHSAA state finals.
She'd finally accomplished her goal of reaching the state championship, but wasn't playing up to her standard early on.
"Just getting to state is the nerve-racking part," Ingersoll said. "State is the fun part. I play better when I think of how fun it is. I just think of the positive times. I think, 'Oh well, I had a bad hole.'"
Ingersoll's approach shot landed on the green, but more than 20 feet from the hole. A good lag putt would've put her in good shape to make par and hold serve as she moved to the back nine.
Instead of holding serve, the Munster junior stepped up and nailed the putt for birdie.
"My putting was really on," Ingersoll said of her two rounds at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel last weekend. "I've been working on it for a long time to really lock that in."
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The long put on 18 -- she started her round on the back nine of the course -- spurred a run of three consecutive birdies en route to a 2-over par finish to the first day of play. Sunday's second round was just as impressive. A nine of the par-5 13th hole failed to derail Ingersoll as she made three birdies as part of a 5-over 77.
"I never really got the sense that she was nervous," Munster coach Bill Smitka said. "Just just played her game and hung in there... She was playing with some of the best players in the state and she outplayed them."
All in all, Ingersoll's performance earned her seventh place, a medal and All-State honors.
It's been a long journey for Ingersoll, who missed state her freshman year after an opposing coach gave her incorrect advice on playing an out-of-bounds shot, which led to her disqualification. In the end, the adversity made last weekend all the more sweet.
"It's great getting to state," Ingersoll said. "Getting to state was my No. 1 goal for high school. Getting it taken away was heartbreaking, but making it this year really boosted my mood."
Next season, Ingersoll's younger sister, Payton, is set to join the team as a freshman. It's a team that Smitka and Co. have high hopes for.
Munster finished fourth in this season's Lake Central Regional, 11 strokes shy of third-place Penn to advance to state as a team. Ingersoll's 76 that day saw her advance as one of the three individuals without their team.
Seeing Ingersoll on the big stage has only made the rest of the team hungrier.
"She works hard," Smitka said of Ingersoll. "And a lot of times after practice is over, she goes over and hits more balls. So hopefully (reaching state) is a catalyst for our team as well."
"Our team will be super good next year," Ingersoll said. "We can do it next year. I would love to be (at state) together as a team... It will be a lot of fun playing with my sister."
Here's all The Times' coverage from Week 8 of high school football in Northwest Indiana
See features, game recaps, scores and photos from Week 8 of high school football in Northwest Indiana.
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