‘A Perfect Way To Start’ — Badin Looking For Big Things This Season, Captures Fenwick Fall Classic Title
Badin High School senior Taylor Zoz hits a tee shot Aug. 5, 2026, during the Fenwick Fall Classic girls golf tournament at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon.
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By Rick Cassano
LEBANON – Badin High School’s girls golf season has started with a tournament championship.
The Rams return four players and have high expectations for 2026, so winning the 17-team Fenwick Fall Classic title Wednesday at Shaker Run Golf Club wasn’t really a surprise.
“A perfect way to start. That was amazing,” said senior Taylor Zoz, the individual runner-up with a 6-over-par 78. “It was very exciting to get out there and see what our team could do this year. I think it showed that we have a lot of potential to do great things throughout the season.”
Zoz and classmate Leah Martinkovic topped the Badin effort as Martinkovic shot an 80 and tied for third place in the individual standings. Springfield Northwestern senior Cadence Monroe-McCoy was the medalist with a 77.
The Rams totaled 352 strokes on the Lakeside and Meadows nines as Mason (355) took second and St. Ursula (365) was third.
“I think this team keeps everything really positive. We lift each other up and support each other,” Martinkovic said. “We all have the same kind of energy that we bring every day. We all have fun, but then we know how to be serious and focused and really get things done.”
Fifth-year Badin coach Mike Wolf said it wasn’t necessarily a great scoring day for the team as a whole, but winning a title right out of the gate was noteworthy. The Rams aren’t anywhere near Mason in terms of enrollment, yet they’re still competing against each other in Division I.
“For Opening Day, we got by. Now we know we’ve got a few things to clean up,” Wolf said. “Even though we won, we had a defeat in terms of playing to the level of our ability. That’s what we’re going to learn from.”
Wolf said he’s worked to temper the hype surrounding Badin’s goals and expectations. The bar is set very high, but he doesn’t want the players putting too much pressure on themselves.
“We are not afraid of these D-I teams,” Wolf said. “The mantra is we don’t play the other team. You don’t play yourself. Just play the course one shot at a time. If you beat the course, you’ll beat these other players.
“You can’t take anything for granted. These are teenage girls. They get good days, they get bad days, and the margin of error is slim in golf. What makes golf different is when they go out there, they can’t pass the ball. They can’t hand it off to somebody else. They’ve got it all beginning to end. They play on an island the entire tournament, and they’ve got to figure out how to live on that island.”
Sophomore Lexi Martinkovic (95) and junior Emmy Jacobs (99) contributed to the Rams’ scoring in the Classic. Badin has a seven-player varsity roster that includes junior Kara Platz and sophomores Amelia Kessler and Abby Baker.
Fenwick has won the last five Greater Catholic League Coed Division titles, but the Falcons are in rebuilding mode this season. The Rams will be heavy favorites to capture their first league championship.
“Everybody’s shooting for Badin. They pushed us last year,” Fenwick coach Scott Dalton said. “We’ve got a lot of freshmen that we need to develop. If that happens, our goal is realistically top three in the GCL.”
The Falcons took ninth place with a 444 total Wednesday, while fellow GCL Coed schools Dayton Carroll (469) and Kettering Alter (477) were 13th and 15th, respectively.
Dalton was happy with the quality of the tournament, though it was a lengthy round in the sun for everybody.
“It should not take 6½ hours to play 18 holes, but it did today,” Dalton said. “This course has a lot of walking in between holes. That was a big factor.”
“It was a very long day and required a lot of patience,” Zoz said. “All the girls we played with were really nice, so that helps a lot.”
Zoz started well, but said she really had to grind after making the turn to the Meadows course.
“My front nine, I was on,” she said. “I was pin seeking and hitting good drives and getting my putts to sink. On the back nine, I think I got a little mentally tired. I just kept bogeying, so it was hard to keep myself focused. But I stayed with it the whole time. This is our first big thing as a team, so it’s off on a really good note.”
Leah Martinkovic followed a different route. She said she found a groove on the back nine after being affected by the heat and slow play early.
“Absolutely nothing was working on the front nine, but I was 1-over on the back and did really well,” Martinkovic said. “My driver started going far and my putts were dropping. I had a good short game.”
Junior Nora Krebs paced Fenwick with a 93, followed by sophomore Olivia Maciukiewicz at 115. The Falcons’ varsity roster includes senior Caroline Dobrozsi, sophomore Giulia Ehrentreich, and freshmen Elsie Umberg, Harper Wolf and Cadence Bell.
Fenwick started its season last Friday by defeating Dayton Chaminade Julienne and losing to Carroll in a tri-match.
Krebs is the lone Falcon returnee with at least some varsity experience. Fenwick took third place at the Division II state tournament last year and has advanced to state five times in the last six seasons.
The Falcons lost their entire lineup from the 2025 state tournament. Emma Lohman, Libby Haas, Sophie King and Marin Weber all graduated – Kenzie Blankenship has transferred to Lakota East for her junior season in 2026.
“It happens to everybody. That’s sports,” Dalton said of having to rebuild with a mostly new group. “We just need to have a lot of patience and improve our short game and see what happens at the end of the year. I’m hoping the girls realize what we’ve done in the past and strive to get to that point.
“They’re hardworking and very coachable … they’re just young. When five of your top seven kids are freshmen and sophomores, you just need to get them experience.”
Badin clearly doesn’t have an experience problem at the top of its lineup. The postseason is a difficult path being in Division I, but the Rams have competed well in the big division since moving up in 2024.
Last season, Badin took fifth place at the district level, 10 strokes away from the final state-qualifying squad. The Rams were sixth-place sectional finishers in 2024 and 3 strokes short of the last district qualifier.
“The competition’s going to be stiff, but we have a real chance,” Wolf said of Badin’s state possibilities. “I think the girls realized last year that we’re tough enough and smart enough to handle these big schools.”
Zoz said Badin is getting acclimated to the D-I scene.
“It’s a tough division, but I think if we all stay focused, work together and come to practices with high energy, we could really go far,” Zoz said. “I think it’s a good opportunity for us. D-II is a challenge too, but in D-I you feel like, ‘Oh, I’m with the big dogs. I’m with the people that are the best of the best.’ It makes you feel like you really need to compete, which is good.
“We’ve been getting better and better, so hopefully even after me and Leah are gone, it will just keep getting better and better. It’s not just one person. Every single person on our team is working hard. I think we all have each other’s back too. Like Coach Mike always says, you play for the person in front of you and you play for the person behind you. That’s exactly how we are.”
Zoz has had a couple close calls in her quest to get to state and has made it to district three straight years. In 2023, she was fourth at the D-II district tourney and missed a playoff for a state berth by 1 stroke. In 2024, she took 20th place in the D-I district event. Last year, she lost in a D-I district playoff for the third and final state spot.
Zoz said she’d love to compete at the state tournament, but she doesn’t want to go alone.
“I want the whole team with me. I think we can do it,” Zoz said. “I’m really hoping that we can progress and go all the way to state, but state or not, I think we’ll enjoy the year.”
The Rams are back in action at Reeves Golf Course in Cincinnati on Friday, facing Fenwick and McNicholas in a tri-match.
Here are the results from Wednesday’s Fall Classic:
