State girls golf: Brunswick's Ellie Gonzalez-Ribble places ninth

Brunswick junior golfer Ellie Gonzalez-Ribble earned All-Ohio honors for the second consecutive season. Gonzalez-Ribble fired a 3-over-par 73 in the second round of the Division I state tournament on the NCR Country Club North Course on Tuesday. That was good enough to tie Lakota East junior Jenna Schmidt for ninth place with 146. The top five finishers, plus ties, earned first-team All-Ohio, while the next five finishers earned second team. Last season, Gonzalez-Ribble took eighth with a 149 on Firestone Country Club's Fazio Course. While pleased with her performance, Gonzalez-Ribble knows she was just a little off from climbing up the leaderboard. "Overall, I feel like I did decent. There was just a couple of shots that led to big numbers," she said. "If they didn't happen and I could have had a couple of putts drop, I feel like I could have easily ended up in second place." Magnificat won the championship after shooting a 593. Olentangy junior Jodie Han, the only player to finish under par, fired a 129 after shooting a 65 in the second round. Gonzalez-Ribble was paired with Han for both the first and second rounds. "That was really fun to experience," Gonzalez-Ribble said. "I loved playing with Jodie both days." Wadsworth resident Ray Koeberle shot a 9-over 80 on the South Course to tie for the Archbishop Hoban lead with a 156. The Knights (641) finished 10th out of 12 teams. Dublin Jerome (574) won the boys championship, led by medalist Brady Barnum's 139. Gonzalez-Ribble started her round hot with birdies on the 432-yard, par-5 second and 147-yard, par-3 third to sit 2 under. "I was feeling very motivated after (Monday). I really wanted to move up some more," she said. "I was super focused into the mindset of trying to get birdies, because I didn't have many (Monday). Those two birdies at the beginning kind of set me off." Gonzalez-Ribble bogeyed the next three holes and was 3 over after a double bogey on the 459-yard, par-5 12th, but she bounced back with a birdie on the 371-yard No. 14. After her second double bogey on the 363-yard 15th, Gonzalez-Ribble finished the tournament with a birdie on the 340-yard 18th. "The course wasn't playing terribly difficult, and it was a little shorter than I anticipated, even though NCR is a difficult course," she said. "One of the things you really need to worry about is hitting fairways to keep it in the right spot on the green. My driver was kind of crazy the past two days. In the entire tournament, I only hit six fairways — three (Tuesday) and three (Monday). "That kind of made me have to scramble for a lot of pars." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results Division I state tournament GIRLS at Par-70 NCR C.C. North Course Standings: 1. Magnificat 593, 2. Dublin Jerome 606, 3. Olentangy Orange 623, 4. Walsh Jesuit 628, 5. Toledo St. Ursula 631, 6. Lakota East 644, 7. Sycamore 654, 8. Canfield 669, 9. North Canton Hoover 672, 10. Anderson 691, 11. Sylvania Northview 698, 12. Minerva 713. Brunswick (NS) — 9. Ellie Gonzalez-Ribble 73-73-146. BOYS at par-71 NCR C.C. South Course Standings: 1. Dublin Jerome 574, 2. Cincinnati St. Xavier 599, 3. New Albany 603, 4. St. Ignatius 605, 5. Hudson 612, 6. Columbus St. Charles 614, 7. University 627, 8. Toledo St. John's Jesuit 632, 9. Lakota East 635, 10. Archbishop Hoban 641, 11. Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller 645, 12. Marietta 684.