Just 15 months ago, it would have seemed unlikely. 

Mid-Prairie senior Madelyn Bender was playing the final hole of her Golden Hawk career — at the 2A state tournament in Cedar Falls. 

She finished with a triple-bogey on hole nine at the Pheasant Ridge golf course during the first day of play. On Friday, her second shot on nine landed behind a bunker. She chipped it onto the green, and sank a 30-foot sidehill putt for par to walk off the course with a new career-best total of 94. 

“That was really exciting and a good way to end my senior season,” Bender said. 

The Golden Hawks also matched their season-best 18-hole score as a team on day two, finishing with a total of 392. 

It was a storybook ending for Bender, who was the team’s only upperclassman in 2021 with one sophomore and five freshmen for teammates. 

“At the beginning of the season last year, I never would have even expected us to make it to second regionals,” she said. “But then we did and we improved so much. And then I really wanted to go to state this year. I'm really glad we did and it's been awesome spending time with them and seeing them get better.”

Bender shot a 44 over her final nine holes, which was also a career low. She finished 29th out of 71 individuals with a 2-day score of 192. Sophomore Madi Davidson was just a stroke back, tied for 30th with 193. 

The course was soggy on Thursday, and temperatures were cool with a high of just 62. 

Davidson shot a pair of 48s to lead the Golden Hawks to a team total of 403, and freshman Addison English had one of the team’s top four scores, shooting 52 and 53.  

Four of the six Golden Hawks shot better scores in the sun on Friday, including sophomores Elliott Debler and Gabi Robertson, who each shot a career-best 47 over the final nine holes of the tournament to finish with 101 and 100 strokes, respectively. 

Junior Alexa Huber dropped her score by five strokes on Friday as well, finishing with a 105 on Friday. 

“I'm so proud of what these kids have done this year and what they've accomplished in their short career,” Mid-Prairie coach Tracy McArtor said. “It all started in January with Saturday morning open gym, when they all committed themselves to getting better and culminated at the state meet last week. Where they've come from in two short years is amazing and what they did this year as well.” 

While Mid-Prairie finished tenth out of ten teams, the Golden Hawks shot six strokes better than Anamosa on day two, a score that was just seven strokes off of sixth-place Van Meter’s Friday total. 

"This was a fun two days for the whole team and a great experience for such a young team,” McArtor said. “We knew that we'd be going up against some great competition and the kids didn't back away from the challenge. Their goal, knowing how young this team is, was to not finish last and they only missed that goal by three shots. The flip side was that on day two, the girls posted scores that they haven't done all year both personally and as a team which I told them really solidifies the fact that they deserved to be there.” 

McArtor also pointed out to his young group that the four teams who had beaten Mid-Prairie heading into the state meet all finished their season in the state tournament as well: 1A West Branch, 2A Williamsburg and Anamosa, and 3A Washington. 

“I'm excited for the future of Golden Hawk girls golf with the experience these kids have had and the success,” McArtor said. “We do lose an awesome senior with Madelyn Bender. She was asked to take on the leadership role as a junior last season and stepped up to the challenge having little experience herself — seeing limited playing time as freshman, and losing her sophomore year to covid. 

“What a great way to end her high school career. Getting to the state meet was something she was driven to do. While her high school golf days are done, she will continue her golf career at Wartburg College this fall where I believe she will enjoy another four years of fun and success."

2A team scores

1, Sumner-Fredericksburg, 357, 346, 703; 2, New Hampton, 348, 364, 712; 3, Dike-New Hartford, 370; 4, Williamsburg, 361, 376, 737; 5, Roland-Story, 368, 379, 747; 6, Van Meter, 372, 385, 757; 7, Treynor, 382, 380, 762; 8, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 391, 391, 782; 9, Anamosa, 394, 398, 792; 10, Mid-Prairie, 403, 392, 795.

Individuals

1, Chloe Bolte, Sumner-Fredericksburg, 75, 75, 149; 2, Molly Fereday, Columbus Catholic, 73, 76, 149; 3, Olivia Hines, Mediapolis, 72, 81, 153; 4, Makenna Carlson, Roland-Story, 80, 81, 161; 5, Jaisel Bott, Williamsburg, 77, 87, 164; 29, Madelyn Bender, M-P, 98, 94, 192; T-30, Madi Davidson, M-P, 96, 97, 193; 44, Elliott Debler, M-P, 104, 101, 205; 45, Gabi Robertson, 106, 100, 206; T-55, Addison English, M-P, 105, 107, 212; T-57, Alexa Huber, M-P, 110, 105, 215.