ALTON - Marquette Catholic senior boys golfer Sam Cogan saved the best for last this season.
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Cogan shot a 77 to finish tied for 12th in the IHSA Class 2A State Finals Golf Tournament at the Weibring Golf Course in Bloomington recently. This week, he was named to the First-Team 2018 Metro East Golf Coaches Association All-Area team with teammate Kolten Bauer.
Marquette Catholic boys golf coach Ryan Geisler could not have been more pleased with how Cogan finished the year.
“He played his best golf at the end of the season,” Geisler said. “I remember he told me as a freshman and sophomore that his golf was to make it to state as a senior and he succeeded in that. I am very proud of him.”
Coach Geisler said he thought Cogan and Bauer were two of the most impressive golfers in the Metro East this fall. Geisler said Cogan didn’t have any intention of playing in college at the beginning of the year, but with his 12th-place finish, that may have changed. He also believes Bauer will be a solid college golfer.
"I am personally very proud of how Sam played throughout the day at state," Geisler said. "It was very cold and quite windy so how he handled himself in those conditions was impressive. He was in contention for a top-five finish but caught a couple of bad breaks down the closing stretch of holes to finish 12th. The way Sam improved from the start of the season to how he finished borders the unbelievable.
"He set a goal at the beginning of the season to get back to the state finals and went after it. Again I am so proud of him and his achievements throughout his senior season. He finished runner-up at our regional (73), fifth at our sectionals (75) and the top two teams at 2A state finals came from our Carbondale Sectional. It was a talent-stacked field. That was huge for confidence. Then to go to the state tournament and have a finish like that is a testament to the work he put in this year. It's been an absolute pleasure to watch his progress over the last couple of years. I'm excited to see what he does in the future."
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