Lauren Murnan obliterated the tournament record Tuesday while repeating as Metro Conference champion.
The Omaha Marian junior carded seven birdies, two after driving the green on par-4s, to shoot a 4-under 64 at Elmwood. The tournament record had been 68, set by Katie Etter of Omaha Bryan/Mercy in 1999 and tied in 2020 by Kaitlyn Hanna of Omaha Westside.
Murnan won by seven strokes over Addison Benge of team champion Westside.
“I had three bogeys today, so I definitely could have played better, but I’m happy with my score,’’ Murnan said. (“It was) good course management, and I’d also say my drives and my putting were really great. Everything was just really good.”
Marian coach Robert Davis said his ace has the potential to go low.
“She gets on a roll and the shots just look easy for her,’’ he said. “She’s a magician. She had some terrible lies today, hard pan kind of lies where she just hit great shots from those lies and made par.
“Once she starts smelling blood of those birdies going in, she just attacks and is an aggressive golfer.”
Murnan is hitting it longer than last year, Davis said. It’s course management, however, that is her greatest improvement.
“She was prone to the bad hole in the past where, she’d throw up three or four birdies, but she’d have a couple of doubles and a triple maybe,’’ he said. “She’s really eliminated the mistakes from her round.”
Westside put it all together with its school-record 300, Warriors coach Jered Hellman said. Benge led a 2-3-7-8 finish, with Kendall Lauritzen at 74, Audrey Nielsen at 77 and Chloe DiPrima at 78.
It was Westside’s first Metro title since 2011 and the 12th in school history.
Hellman said the Warriors have improved steadily, including from working on their games from 100 yards in.
“We’re excited for Westside,’’ Marian’s Davis said. “Those are a great group of girls with a wonderful coaching staff. We love the friendly rivalry we have with Westside. It’s the first time we’ve lost in almost two years. And I’ll be honest, I’m happy it was Westside that did it instead of the Lincoln schools.”
Team scoring: Omaha Westside 300, Omaha Marian 301, Elkhorn South 358, Millard North 364, Millard West 380, Papillion-La Vista 386, Millard South 420, Bellevue East 423, Omaha Westview 433, Papillion-La Vista South 449, Omaha Central 477, Omaha North 491, Omaha Burke 510, Omaha Bryan 529, Omaha Benson 570, Omaha South 693, Omaha Northwest NTS, Omaha Buena Vista NTS, Bellevue West NTS.
Individual leaders: Lauren Murnan, Marian, 64; Addison Benge, Westside, 71; Kendall Lauritzen, Westside, 74; Lucy Peterson, Marian, 75; Ellen Bode, Elkhorn South, 75; Audrey Nielsen, Westside, 77; Chloe DiPrima, Westside, 78; Delaney Schmitz, Marian, 79; Addison Kloeckner, Papillion-La Vista, 80; Faith Koranda, Westview, 81; Evie Rothe, Elkhorn South, 89, Leah Wisdom, Marian, 83; Sloan Mackintosh, Marian, 86; Samantha Dutton, Millard North, 90; Paige Rankin, Millard North, 90.
stu.pospisil@owh.com, twitter.com/stuOWH
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Stu Pospisil
Reporter – High school sports
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today