A year ago, Hayden had Class 4A’s full attention by the time the postseason rolled around.
 
The Wildcats made noise by ending Washburn Rural’s stranglehold on the Topeka City Championship – becoming the first team other than the Junior Blues to win the title – and posted scores consistently throughout the year that were the best in Class 4A.
 
Hayden then went out and backed up the hype, dominating last year’s Class 4A state tournament, winning the team title by 37 strokes over two-time defending champion Wamego.
 
The path back to the state tournament this year carried much less hoopla for the Wildcats.
 
“I don’t think we won a tournament until our last one of the year,” Hayden coach Jayson Duncan said. “We were getting second, third and playing some great competition every week getting beat up by Washburn Rural and Manhattan. And Wamego beat us at the start of the year. But then we got to the last couple of tournaments and really started to play well and it carried over.”
 
Perhaps flying under the radar for much of the season, Hayden put itself back atop the list of favorites when it won the toughest regional in 4A last week at McPherson, using a fifth-player tiebreaker to beat the host Bullpups after each finished with a team score of 326. That momentum carried over to the Class 4A state tournament at Hesston Golf Course as the Wildcats proved they had championship staying power.
 
Hayden grabbed a slim four-shot lead on Wellington in Monday’s opening round with a 353 team score. On Tuesday, the Wildcats improved by eight shots as a team and that was more than enough to widen the gap on the Crusaders as Hayden successfully defended its state title.
 
The Wildcats finished with a two-day total of 698 to beat Wellington by 15 shots with the Crusaders finishing at 713. McPherson was third at 727.
 
“After I saw how the course was going to be set up, I knew the scores were going to be a little higher than what they were at regionals,” Duncan said. “Sometimes that groups people together and that’s what happened. It just became a fight to the end.”
 
In winning the state title a year ago, Hayden placed four in the top 16, led by a tie for ninth from Izzy Glotzbach. Hannah Reynoldson, Lauren Borjon and Avery Grunert weren’t far behind, finsihing 14-15-16.
 
But both Reynoldson and Grunert graduated after being multi-time state placers, leaving two big holes in the Hayden lineup.
 

 
Filling at least one of those spots was a challenge senior Addyson Baer took head on. She just missed giving the Wildcats a fifth state medalist a year ago, placing 24^th, just two shots away from the top 20.
 
That near-miss only added to her drive in the offseason to make her senior year a big one.
 
“I got a swing coach this summer and was working every day, hitting balls, short game,” she said. “It was every day working. Being four places off medaling last year really got under my skin and I wanted it bad this year so I worked for it.”
 
The work paid off as Baer was Hayden’s top finisher at the regional meet last week with a 79, which was her second-best score of the year behind a 77 she posted at the Centennial League meet. The senior wasn’t quite able to duplicate that score at state, but posted a rounds of 86 and 88 to get the state medal she coveted, tying for 16^th with Santa Fe Trail’s Bailey Anshutz.
 
“It feels good to win again and for me to place this year,” Baer said.
 
Hayden’s returning state placers led the way this season.
 

 
Borjon put herself in contention for the individual title in Monday’s first round, shooting a 5-over 76 to enter the second round six shots behind two-time reigning champion Addison Douglass of Wamego.
 
Though she wasn’t able to track down Douglass, who pulled away for a 10-shot victory over the field, Borjon’s focus wasn’t on her Wamego rival. Instead, the focus was within her group, paired with Wellington’s Claire Ginter and McPherson’s Brodie Kuhn, the first-day low scorers from Hayden’s closest challengers for the team title.
 
“I think our goal for all of us was just to beat the Wellington girl in our group,” Borjon said. “Let everything else shake out after that.”
 
Borjon’s day didn’t get off to the best of starts as she double bogeyed her first hole while Ginter parred. But she regouped quickly, making pars on her next five holes and Ginter saw her game fall apart a bit as she made a quadruple bogey on No. 2 and then had another quadruple bogey three holes later as she made the turn 14 over for the round to drop her out of contention and hinder Wellington’s chances of catching the Wildcats.
 
Borjon made the turn at 5 over (her final total to par on Monday) and played the back at 5 over as well to shoot an 81. Going into the second round tied with Winfield’s Lilli Sympson for second behind Douglass, Borjon settled for a third-place finish and her third state medal in as many meets.
 

 
While Brojon slipped a bit on Day 2, Glotzbach flipped her script and rebounded from a tough Day 1 when she shot an 89.
 
“I just wanted to shoot a lot better than yesterday and be close to the girls in my group,” Glotzbach said. 
 
Glotzbach was steady throughout, shooting 6 over on the front and 5 over on the back for an 11 over 82 that was the 10^th-best score on Tuesday and moved her to a 12^th-place finish at 171.
 
Hayden’s final counting score was a 196 from Brooke Johnson, who improved eight shots from Monday (102) to Tuesday (94) and finished in a tie for 34^th.
 
“We knew what we had to come out and do and we did it,” Glotzbach said.
 
“Lauren and Izzy are just like their personalities; they’re consistent,” Duncan said. “They are always in the top 5, top 10 and as far as being a leader for us, they’re always right there and always have high expectations that we feed off.
 
“Addy brings us a little flair and a little excitement and the girls really responded to the challenge this year.”
 
Hayden had finished runner-up to Wamego at the 4A state preview tournament at Hesston to start the season. And with the Red Raiders unable to field a full team for state after finishing fourth at regionals, the Wildcats came in with plenty of confidence they could repeat.
 
“From that point on, we knew we had a shot,” Glotzbach said of the opening meet. “It built a lot of confidence because I wasn’t sure if we’d be close because Wellington returned almost everyone from last year. But after that tournament, it was really good.”
 
“I think towards the end of the season, we really put it together,” Borjon said. “Our seniors really helped us a lot and they really stepped up. We weren’t really on the headlines all year, but we came out today and played really well.”
 
CLASS 4A STATE TOURNAMENT
 
At Hesston Golf Course
 
TEAM SCORES
 
Hayden 698, Wellington 713, McPherson 727, Augusta 733, Buhler 750, Baldwin 759.
 
INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS
 

1. Addison Douglass, Wamego, 70-72—142; 2. Lilli Sympson, Winfield, 76-76—152; 3. Lauren Borjon, Hayden, 76-81—157; 4. Ashley Myers, Bishop Miege, 80-78—158; 5. Brodie Kuhn, McPherson, 78-81—159; 6. Taryn Viramontes, Wellington, 83-77—160; 7. Kaylee Cox, Augusta, 84-77—161; 8. Peyton Wright, Baldwin, 84-78—162; 9. Anika Paulsrud, Buhler, 86-77—163; 10. Mya Niehues, Concordia, 81-84—165; 11. Marleigh Grant, Eudora, 85-85—170; 12. (tie) Izzy Glotzbach, Hayden, 89-82—171 and Andi Buschbom, McPherson, 84-87—171; 14. (tie) Claire Ginter, Wellington, 79-94—173 and Kathy Gillett, Ottawa, 85-88—173; 16. (tie) Bailey Anshutz, Santa Fe Trail, 86-88—17; and Addyson Baer, Hayden, 86-88—174; 18. (tie) Delaney Hastings, Chanute, 90-86—176 and Violet Robins, Independence, 86-90—176; 20. Presley Cornejo, Wellington, 92-89—181.