Karley Whittington admitted there were a few tense moments Tuesday, when what should have been a victory lap turned into a dogfight.

With the poise of a champion, though, Whittington calmed her nerves, solidified her lead and brought home state championship No. 2.

The Warren Central freshman iced her duel with D’Iberville’s Hannah Levi by making three straight birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 17, and finished with a five-shot victory to earn medalist honors at the MHSAA Class III girls state golf tournament at Clear Creek Golf Course.

It’s the second straight individual championship for Whittington, with both coming on her home course.

“It is blowing my mind,” Whittington said. “I beat the course record, won the state championship, and they’re checking to see if I got the state record for the lowest round in the tournament. It’s been a good week.”

Whittington followed up her 66 in Monday’s first round with a 70 on Tuesday. Before this week, she’d only shot under par at Clear Creek once in her life.

Levi, though, was right there with her. The freshman shot a 68 on Tuesday for the low round of the day, and had made up four shots on a seven-shot deficit by the turn.

Whittington, though, slammed the door closed. Her three consecutive birdies pushed the lead back to six heading to 18. She bogeyed the final hole, but by then it didn’t matter.

“I missed a couple of putts I think I should’ve made. Wasn’t knocking them close and being as aggressive as I should have been,” Levi said.

Whittington finished with a two-day total of 136, which was 26 shots better than last year’s winning total, and she needed to do it to win. The top four finishers all shot 150 or lower for the tournament.

Levi finished at 141. St. Martin’s Sydney Cato was third, at 148, and Oak Grove’s Keista Elder fourth at 150.

Whittington, Levi and Cato all shot even par 72 or lower in the final round.

“The course wasn’t playing easy, but I think I played to the best of my ability. I’ve been practicing hard leading up to this, and the hard work paid off,” Whittington said, in between thanking everyone from Warren Central’s coaches and staff to her swing coach Kent Smith. “It meant a lot knowing I had good competition. Having that competition makes it so you have to work for what you achieve.”

Oak Grove beat St. Martin in a playoff to win the team title. Both finished with a total of 313 shots in regulation.

Each team had two golfers finish in the top six of the individual standings. Lindsey Wescovich shot 165 to finish sixth for St. Martin, and Meredith Monroe shot 163 to place fifth for Oak Grove.

Tupelo was third in the team standings, at 338. Defending champion Warren Central was fourth with 355 and Madison Central fifth with 359.

Although they weren’t able to defend their team title, Warren Central coach Matt Williams said he was pleased with his team’s effort.

Freshman Mia Wamsley shot 114 on Tuesday and finished with 219 for the tournament. Senior Jessica Hurley shot 114 and 226.

Both Lady Vikes were well down the leaderboard, but had some of their best rounds of the season.

“Coming into the region tournament we were sixth and now we’re fourth, so we’re excited,” Williams said. “We wanted to win again, but we knew we had a big challenge. Oak Grove and St. Martin are both great teams that would beat a lot of boys teams.”