WHEELING — West Virginia’s state golf tournament took a bow Wednesday evening, finishing up its two-day stay at Oglebay Resort’s Jones Course, with multiple local competitors coming away with hardware for their efforts on the links.

The John Marshall Monarchs finished as Class AAA runners-up, finishing with an overall score of 488, seven strokes behind first-place Shady Spring at 481.

“I’m extremely proud of the team,” John Marshall head coach Eli Lambie said. “They’ve worked really, really hard this season. We’re young, but they grinded it out.

“Didn’t have the best day yesterday, but they adapted really well to the course conditions and brought the heat and played really, really well today.”

Freshman Drew Marling finished his state tournament debut at a 156 across 36 holes, earning him a spot on the Class AAA all-tournament team. Senior Brandt Blake shot a 164, Freshman Hayden Harvey a 168 and sophomore Brayden Kempkens a 186.

“They’re really wonderful kids,” Lambie said of his team. “They’re wonderful people to be around and they’ve built a community and a culture that is excited to get out on the golf course and play.

“They’re always getting each other out on the course together to play together and improving together and it’s been a really fun and rewarding season.”

Wednesday was a bit of a crossroads for Lambie and Wheeling Park head coach Don Headley. Lambie, a Wheeling Park alum, played for Headley as part of Park’s 2010 and 2011 state championship teams. On Wednesday, it was the first state tournament appearance for Lambie as a coach– he is in his second year at the helm– and the last for Headley, who is retiring this season after more than 30 years in coaching.

The circumstances made the two-day tournament extra special for both parties.

“That’s been one of the coolest things this season is coming full circle and getting to work alongside Headley,” Lambie said.

“Eli’s done a wonderful job this year,” Headley said. “He’s got horses to run with, too. So he’s going to make a run next year and the year after, and hopefully he’ll win a couple of championships in the next couple of years. And I’ll be pulling for him to do that, it’d be awesome.”

In Headley’s final time out at the state tournament coaching the Patriots, Wheeling Park came in fourth in an eight-team Class AAAA field, shooting a 493 overall. First-place Hurricane shot a 463 as a team, good for the low-mark across all Classes.

Will Koegler was a standout for Wheeling Park, earning a spot on the Class AAAA all-tournament team with a 156 between his two day’s work. Fellow senior Andrew Pennybacker finished at a 161, and freshman Seth Weidner shot a 176. Owen Abraham subbed in for Quinn Marsh for the second day and shot an 85.

“This is my last go-round,” Headley said. “And to have Will make All-State — I was hoping that him and Andrew, both the two seniors, would make it together, Andrew finished in 10th place, just two spots out of being All-State. Will played his heart out today. He was in the lead coming into today and, like I always say, Jones won again.

“I’m so proud of Will and he’s really played his heart out and I’m proud as heck of him. He’s done a wonderful job.”

Headley had a lot to look back on after a long and storied coaching career.

“The last putt has just been sunk,” Headley joked. “It’s been wonderful, you know, all the years. I’ve been head coach since 2008 and started coaching with Coach Richie in ’93. It’s just been a great job, wonderful parents to be around and every year has just been great to look forward to for golf season. And, of course, winning six state titles and five runner-ups in a career, and having, I’d say, pushing 30 all-staters, somewhere in that neighborhood over all those years– a lot of great kids have come out of this program.”

Headley mentioned Lambie, Wheeling University golf coach Thadd Obecny, Brooke High School golf coach Marshall Hone and West Liberty golf coach Noah Seivertson as some of the players to come out of his Patriots teams.

“They’ve all come through Wheeling Park, and they’ve all been great parts of our golf program,” Headley said. “And Eli, the John Marshall Monarchs finished second today, and Eli got his first plaque. So he’s in good shape, you know, ready to go. I told him he has to get 10 more to catch up with ol’ coach here, you know?”

Wheeling Central tied for third place in the Class AA race, finishing at an overall score of 534, tied with Doddridge County. First place went to Midland Trail, who finished at 514.

“I was really proud of the kids. I think they did really well,” Wheeling Central head coach Jim Mortakis said. “I just felt that we were inexperienced. But, you know, we have a good, solid team. Our kids are going to be around for at least three more years, two more years for the sophomores, the freshmen will be around for three more years.

“Rowen played really well today. The boys all kind of played a little bit better than they did yesterday.”

Rowen Parker, a sophomore, led the Maroon Knights at a 175 through the two days. Freshman Conner Ball collected a 177 across two days, and Isaac Tiu finished at a 182. Freshman Zack Zende took over from Bode Burge for the second day of the tournament and shot a 90.

Mortakis is looking for improvement from his young team going into next season.

“Obviously, we want to be able to do things at a high level every year,” Mortakis said. “You know, the boys are here and they’re only going to get better. We’ll figure out a way to get better and we’ll figure out a way to be in the hunt next year.”

Weir’s Evan Kaczmarek, the lone local individual qualifier, shot an 89 on Wednesday after shooting a 90 on Tuesday to finish at a 179 showing, good for 13th in Class AA.