Willis won the Division II state titles in 2016 and 2017.
Reagan Ramage, a high school junior from Burlington, Kentucky, and Gabby Woods, a Findlay University senior from Clinton-Massie High School, tied for medalist at 2-under par 70. Willis and Isabella Wiley, a Morehead State commit from Bagdad, Kentucky, tied for third. Madison Dabagia, a sophomore at Iowa from Fort Wayne, Indiana, shot 73 and won a four-way playoff for the fifth and final qualifying spot.
Ohio Amateur: Tyler Goecke shot his second straight 2-under par 70 in Thursday’s third round and is five shots off the lead in a tie for fourth place at Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland.
Goecke, a Carroll graduate and two-time Horizon League player of the year at Wright State, made two birdies and a bogey on both sides and is 3-under for the tournament. Goecke will play his final season at North Carolina. His former WSU teammate Mikkel Mathiesen of Denmark slipped to 10th place at even par with a second straight 73.
Andrew Bailey, a former Cleveland State player from Shaker Heights, shot a tournament-low 67 to build a four-shot lead at 8-under. Second-round leader Scott Anderson, a former Ohio State player from Columbus, shot 73 to slip into a second-place tie with Drew Salyers, an Indiana senior from Howard, Ohio.
Shane Ochs, also from Wright State and Carroll, shot a 70 for his low round of the tournament to move into a tie for 11th at 1-over par.
Centerville girls: The Division I state champion Elks placed 10th out of 25 teams at the annual High School Golf National Invitational in Frisco, Texas, that concluded Wednesday.
The Elks completed the 54-hole tournament with rounds of 349, 317 and 323 on three different courses. The Elks were 11th after the first day, but rallied to move up to sixth on the second day. They played their final round on the Fields Ranch East Course, the site of the 2027 PGA Championship.
The Elks went lower than every team in the tournament at least once with the exception of the top two finishers, one from Texas and the other from Georgia.
The Elks’ top individuals were Morgan Rodgers in a tie for 56th and Leann Harker and Brigid Nickell tied for 68th. Rodgers, who will begin playing at Ohio University this fall, shot rounds of 79, 80 and 83. Harker, who will play at Ashland, shot rounds of 76, 76 and 93. Nickell, who will be a junior and the only returning starter for the Elks, shot rounds of 85, 78 and 82. Also competing for the Elks were Alana Miller and Sanjana Reddy.
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