ALTON - Marquette Catholic's Aiden O'Keefe came in third as an individual as the Explorers and Father McGivney Catholic qualified for Monday's sectional tournament as a team, while Jersey edged out Triad on a tiebreak in the Class 2A meet at Taylorville as the IHSA held its boys' golf sectionals on Wednesday.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
In the Class 1A regional hosted by Marquette at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course in Gordon Moore Park. Vandalia won the meet with a team score of 320, with the Explorers coming in second at 337 and the Griffins going through in third with a 345. Litchfield came in fourth with a 350, Hillsboro came in fifth with a 356, Raymond Lincolnwood was sixth with a 369, Carlinville came in seventh at 374, Metro-East Lutheran was eighth with a 387, ninth place went to Ramsey at 390 and Gillespie rounded out the top ten with a 397. Staunton was 11th with a 409 and Mt. Olive was 12th with a 470. Piasa Southwestern and Carrollton also entered golfers in the meet as individuals, and didn't have a team score.
In the Class 2A regional at Lakeshore Golf Club in Taylorville, Chatham Glenwood won the tournament with a 324, with Highland going through at 334 and both the Panthers and Knights tied for third with scores of 356, with a tiebreak putting Jersey through to the sectional. Civic Memorial was fifth with a 366, the host Tornadoes were sixth with a 383, East Alton-Wood River was seventh with a 390, and Greenville was eighth with a 415. Roxana also had golfers entered as individuals and didn't have a team score recorded.
In the Class 1A regional, the Explorers played well, and completed its mission to qualify for Monday's sectional.
"Honestly, the Marquette Explorers showed up, competed and played great golf all day," said Marquette head coach Ryan Geisler. "We thought we were a mid-330s team most of the season, but we kind of fell short of that in most of our tournaments this season. But today, our guys fired on all cylinders, and at the right time. It couldn't have been any better timing."
It was a great performance by the Explorer team, led by O'Keefe.
"We played solid golf all day from start to finish," Geisler said, "and kept hanging around. I asked them all to do a job, they all did it and I couldn't be any happier."
The Vandals finished one-two in the individual standings, with Chase Laack winning with an even-par 72, with teammate Dylan Halford and O'Keefe finishing tied for second with a pair of 76s, Antonio Ybarra of Metro-East was fourth with a 77, being the leading individual to qualify the sectional from a non-qualifying team, with the Cavaliers' Henry Kufa joining him after shooting a 78 along with Litchfield's Tug Schwab to tie for fifth, Joey Hyten of the Griffins fired an 80 to come in seventh, the Explorers' Will Schwartz was eighth with an 82, and Lincolnwood's Nate Brockmeyer finishing in a ninth place tie with McGivney's Riley Knobeloch and Vandalia's Jacob Schaal, all having an 85, but Brockmeyer advancing as an individual.
In addition to O'Keefe and Schwartz, Matthew Kane shot an 89 for the Explorers, with Mike Wilson firing a 90, Owen Williams shot a 92 and Carson Hampton came up with a 98. Alongside Hyten and Knobeloch, both Brandon Reed and Clayton Hopfinger shot a 90, Drew Villhard had a 92 and Dominic Zamoroni shot a 105.
Staunton saw one of its golfers, Broc Best, qualify for the sectional with an 88, finishing in the top ten individuals. Also qualifying as individuals were Hillsboro's Dillon Small, with an 87, Preston Lyerla, who had an 89, and Dominic Haggard, who with Lincolnwood's Will Jenkins and Litchfield's Ian Otto and Brawly Jacobs, all shot 90 to go through to the sectional.
Along with Kufa, Carlinville's Dane Rosentreter had a 95, Colin Pope shot a 100, Sam Quarton had a 101 and Jack Slayton fired a 102. Besides Ybarra, Cole Renken had a 99, Jacob Schaper fired a 100, Jacob Kober came up with an 111, Charles Fedder fired an 116 and Seth Linnebrink had a 140. After Best's score, the Bulldogs had Luke Dewitt with a 106, Blake Moore shot an 114 and Luke Meyer had an 117.
Among the individuals, Dylan DeLong led Southwestern with a 100, while Jordan Cottingham shot an 118 and C.J. Hale came up with a 134. Carrollton was led by Noah Powell with a 118 and Jackson Cotner with a 132.
In the Waterloo Gibault Catholic regional at The Acorns Golf Links, Valmeyer finished 12 with a 470, as Nashville, the host Hawks and Okawville finished in the top three teams to advance to the sectional. Ethan Rowe-Brown led the Pirates with a 102, while Jake Killy fired a 114, Evan Rowe-Brown had a 118, Tanner Frierdich shot a 136 and both Aiden Brewer and Fritz Schaefer shot a 148 each.
In the Class 2A regional at Taylorville, Dominick Emig of Highland won the meet in a playoff with Glenwood's Cameron Appenzeller after both finished in a tie with seven-over-par scored of 79. The Titans' Blake Herrin tied for third with Brian Dempsey of Taylorville with both having an 80, Glenwood's Drew Downen had an 82 to finish fifth, while Triad's Owen Twyman finished in a four-way tie for sixth with the Titans' Brock Bredehoft and Brayden Sayarath and the Bulldogs' Bryce Knackstedt, all shooting 83 with Twyman qualifying as an individual, and Mason Emig of Highland coming in 10th with an 85.
The Panthers were led by Mason Seymour, who shot an 86, with Tyler Noble shooting an 88, Austin Hayes came up with a 90, Garrett Smith fired a 92, Sean Churchman shot a 95, and Bradley Isringhausen came up with a 107. The Knights, along with Twyman, qualified Tanner Massie and Connor Keith, who both shot an 88, while Gavin Helmkamp had a 97, Benjamin Hudson shot a 101 and Bryce Laycock had a 102.
CM had three golfers - Sam Buckley, Jake Cheatham and Connor Wells - advance to the sectional, with Buckley shooting an 88, Cheatham 89 and Wells 90. Manny Silva had a 99 for the Eagles, while Zach Fitzgerald shot a 102 and Carson Davis had an 113. Two golfers for EAWR - Carson Reef and Curtis Mullaney - also went through to the sectional, with Reef firing a 91 and Mullaney shooting a 92. Timothy Melton had a 93 for the Oilers, while Lucas Moore had a 114, Camden Siebert fired a 116 and Issac Thornton fired a 137.
Roxana was led by Jackson Harris, who shot a 96, while Troy Holbrook had a 112.
The sectional tournaments will be held on Monday, with the Class 1A McLeansboro Hamilton County meet at Green Hills Golf Club in Mt. Vernon, and the Class 2A sectional hosted by Effingham at the Effingham Country Club.
More like this:
