We are down to number two on our top 10 countdown of the best sports stories from the 2021-22 academic year. In this countdown we look at Washington and the second best Demon story takes us to the links when both golf teams qualified for the state meet. 

The defending state champion Washington girls’ golf team had a new leader of the program with Erin Thorius taking over for longtime head man Len Kull and the Demons did not miss a beat in 2022 cruising to numerous meet wins. The biggest dub of the season came on May 18th when the Demons rolled through the regional final at Edmundson Golf Course in Oskaloosa with an 18-hole tally of 361 to beat out second place by 16 strokes. This punched the Demons’ ticket to the big dance for the program’s 21st time and a big reason why was the one-two punch of Kaylin Long and Makenna Conrad. Long put together a medalist score of 81 and Conrad was runner-up with 82, eight strokes better than third place. The next week the Demons placed sixth at the class 3A state tournament in Adel. Long, Conrad, Alecia Goff, Mallary Johnson, Maci Williams, and Haley Mitchell made up the 21st state team. 

There was plenty of celebrating on the boys’ side as well qualifying for their first state bid since 2018 and one individual brought home hardware. Roman Roth was a force to be reckoned with in his sophomore season and a huge second day at the state meet in Ames propelled him to eighth place in class 3A. Roth was in a tie for 20th at Veenker Memorial Golf Course heading into the final day at state when he coupled the 84 first round with a 76 second to jump 12 spots in the standings. That led a Demon squad that finished 10th in the team race with other Demons being John Prochaska, Grant Sobaski, Luke Beenblossom, Teague Mayer, and Isaac Vetter. The orange and black qualified for the tournament after placing second at Vinton-Shellsburg’s district with an 18-hole score of 347. 

Our top 10 countdown wraps up tomorrow with the best story taking us to the track.