New Trier shot a 280 at Prairie Bluff Golf Club (par 36-36 — 72) to win the Lyons Class 3A boys golf sectional on Monday, Oct. 2, but right behind the Trevians were two Journal teams to the state. .
Conant shot 3-over-par 291 to finish second and Glenbrook South shot a 300 to narrowly edge out a handful of powerhouse teams for the state’s final qualifying spot.
While New Trier, Conant and Glenbrook South qualified for state, it was the season-ending event on the team side for St. Ignatius (302), Glenbrook North (302), Lyons (303) , York (303), Maine South (310). ), Evanston (313), Loyola Academy (314), Jones-Payton (317) and Whitney Young (325).
A number of flagship programs were among the teams that did not make the cut. Glenbrook North finished third at state last year in Class 3A and St. Ignatius was a two-time defending Class 2A state champion. GBN won state in 2021.
Oak Park-River Forest, Lake Park, Maine West and Riverside-Brookfield had four or more golfers competing at sectionals, but they were not competing as a team, just individually. Had they been counted for the team competition, OPRF would have shot 314 points, while Lake Park would have had 328 points. Maine West would have scored 333 points and finished 15th, while Riverside-Brookfield would have rounded out the field with 334.
Conant’s Nicolas Simon earned medalist honors with a 3-under-par 69 to qualify for state for the third time. The University of Michigan commit finished fifth in the state in 2021 (70-72 – 142) and 18th last year (79-73 – 152).
Simon shot 33 under par on the front nine, highlighted by an eagle (2 under par) on the second hole and three consecutive birdies to close out the front half of the course. He birdied hole No. 15, but made bogey on the final hole to finish with an even par 36 on the back nine.
Conant qualified for state for the second time as a team in program history, but the first time in 45 years (1978). The Cougars finished outside the top 10 that 1978 season, so they are aiming to break the school record for the best finish in program history.
While Simon gets the most attention, his teammates have stepped up their games considerably this season to make the Cougars a force. Conant was also competing against Antonio Gutierrez (33-37 — 70), Peyton Kittivat (38-35 — 73), Daniyal Syed (40-39 — 79), Ahilan Nayani (39-40 — 79) and Joshua Lee (40 – 45-85).
Gutierrez had 3 birdies and Kittivat had four birdies for the Cougars. Gutierrez shot 81-79 — 160 to finish tied for 40th at state last year.
Glenbrook South returns to state for a second straight season and the 12th time in program history. GBS won state in 1968, but their best finish in recent years was a third-place finish in 2016. The Titans finished fourth last year.
Glenbrook South was led by Lucas Shin (39-34-73), Connor O’Hara (35-40-75), Kevin Schuh (38-38-76), Nick Ventura (37-39-76), Jeffrey Kim ( 40-37-77) and Decker Holton (44-40-84).
Shin and O’Hara each made five birdies to pace the Titans, who had a total of 17 birdies among their six golfers.
Last year at state, O’Hara (80-74-154) and Ventura (77-77-154) tied for 22nd place. Kim was tied for 67th after shooting 86-80 — 166. Schuh was tied for 72nd with six other golfers after shooting 82-85 — 167.
Loyola, a 20-time qualifier, failed to qualify as a team for the fifth straight year.
Loyola’s Drew Southwell shot 82-82 — 164 to tie for 56th at state last year, but he won’t return to state this year after narrowly falling short despite an outstanding score of 75 at sectional . Sectional cutoff was Glenbrook North’s Jordan Cohen, who shot a 75, but won a playoff battle against Southwell (40-35 – 75) and two other golfers.
The rest of the Ramblers competing were Jack Stevenson (38-41-79), Gavin Smith (37-43-80), Seamus Purcell (39-41-80), Ben Riekse (41-41-82) and Charlie Kasten ( 42-42-84).
Maine South managed to qualify one golfer for state status, while the team fell short on a few short shots to advance everyone. Adam Drabek (36-37 — 73) shot well enough to qualify for the first time. Unfortunately, it was the end of the season for Evan Zeman (40-37 — 77), Charlie Francis (40-39 — 79), Anthony Neumayer (40-41 — 81), Jack Zone (40-42 — 82) and Charlie Currey (41-43-84).
Tommy Kulesza (45-37 – 82) of Maine West started on the back nine and was shooting 1 over par through 11 holes, before the wheels came off and he finished 10 over par 82 to miss the state cut. The final event of retired head coach Mike Godlewski’s career also saw Ronak Patel (40-43-83), Logan Amar (43-40-83) and Robert Young (42-43-85) s ‘face, but fail to move forward.
The final state qualifier in the Journal region was Niles West’s Luke Daly (35-39-74), while teammate Camden Buduan (39-41-80) finished five shots out of the final qualifying spot.
Jiro Yamat (39-38-77) of Maine East missed the state cut along with Charlie Carlson (36-45-81) of Elk Grove. Rolling Meadows also failed to qualify with Jack Duffer (39-39-78) and Nico Haber (40-41-81).
The IHSA Class 3A State Championship will be held Friday-Saturday, Oct. 6-7 at The Den at Fox Creek Golf Course in Bloomington.
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