The IHSA’s final meet of the season for boys golf is Friday-Saturday, Oct. 10-11 at three different courses as the top golfers from across the state battle to find out who is truly the best of the best.
The Class 1A state finals are at Prairie Vista Golf Course (Bloomington). The Class 2A finals are at Weibring Golf Club in Normal, while the Class 3A finals are at the Den at Fox Creek Golf Course in Bloomington.
Here’s how sectionals went Monday, Oct. 6 as golfers and teams tried to make the cut:
Class 3A
Payton Sectional:
Course: Highland Woods (par 36-36 — 72) in Hoffman Estates
Advance to state (top 3): New Trier (277), Evanston (278), York (280)
Eliminated teams: Lyons (289), Glenbrook North (294), Lake Park (297), Oak Park-River Forest (299), Glenbrook South (300), Fenwick (303), Loyola Academy (304), Riverside-Brookfield (305), St. Ignatius (309), Payton (310)
Medalist: New Trier’s Logan Keeter (Sr.) and York’s Gage Jacobs (Jr.) tied at 5-under-par 67.
Journal-Area Teams:
Glenbrook South: Tad Collett (35-33 — 68; tied for 3rd; state qualifier), Will Herakovich (39-37 — 76), Matthew Groose (37-40 — 77), Skyler Joseph (37-42 — 79), Eli Kim (44-39 — 83), William Hoexter (39-47 — 86)
Glenbrook South’s Tad Collett gets out of the sand trap at regionals.
Loyola Academy: Ben Riekse (37-35 — 72; state qualifier), Pasha Zabadneh (41-35 — 76), Danny Burden (40-37 — 77), Duke McGinn (41-38 — 79), Ricardo Gonzalez Salles (39-40 — 79), Xander Schafer (39-41 — 80)
Conant: Jack Sunderlin (37-35 — 72; state qualifier), Leo Enomoto (37-37 — 74), Peyton Kittivat (38-42 — 80), Devin Heyse (41-40 — 81)
Niles Notre Dame: Daniel Mulac (40-39 — 79), Finn Browne (43-38 — 81), JP Soreng (49-45 — 85)
Rolling Meadows: Stanley Powers (43-36 — 79), Richie Peters (42-43 — 85)
Leyden: Patryk Drwal (36-45 — 81), Joey Meyers (44-40 — 84), Szymon Kretowicz (39-45 — 84), Kacper Kasprzyk (45-43 — 88)
Maine South: Colm Staunton (43-39 — 82)
Maine East: Andrew Greene (45-42 — 87)
Elk Grove: Aiden Dailey (38-49 — 87)
Journal-Area Notes: It’s going to be hard to top this sectional, especially when a 289 score misses state by 9 strokes or the fact that seven teams shot 299 or under, meaning four are not heading to state. A 1-over-par 73 was also not even good enough to qualify for state as an individual. A total of 21 golfers shot even par (72) or below par in the sectional, including all 10 individual qualifiers. There were 43 golfers to shoot 75 or under in the sectional. Only five of the 112 golfers in total scored in the 90s. Glenbrook South’s Tad Collett shot 1-under-par 35 on the front-nine and 3-under-par on the back-nine to qualify for state. He sank an eagle (2-under-par) on hole No. 11 and hit 4 birdies (1-under-par holes) during his spectacular outing. Collett finished tied for 40th at state last year. Skyler Joseph sank 3 birdies on the front-nine, but struggled on the back-nine to miss the cut. Loyola’s Riekse (3 birdies) and Zabadneh (2 birdies) each shot 1-under-par 35 on the back-nine. Leyden’s Drwal sank 3 birdies, but he was hurt by four double-bogeys. St. Patrick’s Johnny Santucci (38-39 — 77), a native of Park Ridge, did not advance to state despite a solid overall performance.
Buffalo Grove Sectional:
Course: Buffalo Grove Golf Course (par 36-36 — 72)
Advance to state (top 3): Stevenson (304), Hersey (305), Barrington (306)
Eliminated teams: Burlington Central (308), Mundelein (313), Libertyville (313), Carmel (315), Huntley (319), Hampshire (325), Grant (325), Hononegah (330), Rockford Auburn
Medalist: Fremd’s Rayden Tee (35-35 — 70) shot 2-under-par and then won a playoff battle with Barrington’s Sam Uutala (34-36 — 70) for medalist honors.
Journal-Area Teams Advancing to State:
Stevenson: Nathan Guo (37-35 — 72; 5th place), Trenton Kurtz (38-35 — 73; 6th), Ben Merdalo (37-41 — 78), Dylan Lee (44-37 — 81), Victor Jagasia (40-42 — 82), Tyson Daube (44-39 — 83)
Hersey: Davis Lockwood (36-38 — 74; tied 10th place), Kyle Carlson (36-40 — 76), Colin Lockwood (36-41 — 77), Henry Esposito (37-41 — 78), Owen Spokas (39-42 — 81), Tucker Hemminger (41-40 — 81)
Journal-Area Individuals:
Fremd: Rayden Tee (35-35 — 70; state qualifier), Bobby Oberstar (38-41 — 79; 2 birdies)
Buffalo Grove: Cori Lee (36-38 — 74; tied 10th place; state qualifier)
Palatine: Charlie Hulsebosch (74; tied 10th place; state qualifier), Darrin Dick (75; tied 14th; state qualifier), Bryson Landerman (36-45 — 81; 4 birdies)
Prospect: Luke Ginsberg (35-39 — 74; tied 10th place; state qualifier), Ryan Murray (39-44 — 83; 1 birdie)
Journal-Area Notes: Stevenson is heading back to state for the seventh time after winning the second sectional title in program history. Stevenson won their only other sectional title in 2017. The Patriots previously qualified for state in 1987, 2001, 2005, 2015, 2017 (3rd place) and 2018 (2nd place). Stevenson’s Guo sank 3 birdies on the back-nine and finished 1-under-par 35 on the back-nine. Kurtz also sank 3 birdies (holes No. 2, 14, 17) and finished 1-under-par 35 on the back-nine. Merdalo hit 2 birdies for the Patriots. Lee had 1 birdie and so did Daube as well for Stevenson. Hersey is also heading to state for the fifth time. The Huskies previously made the trip to state in 1978 (3rd place), 1997, 2002 and 2003. Now the Huskies are headed back for the first time in 22 years. Hersey’s Davis Lockwood sank 2 birdies and shot 2-over-par 74 to lead the way for the Huskies. Esposito (2 birdies) had a great sectional going, with only No. 10 killing his score as he shot an uncharacteristic 9 on a par-4. He was 1-over-par outside of that for the other 17 holes. Carlson nailed 2 birdies on the front-nine to finish on par (36), but he struggled at times on the back-nine. Carlson redeemed himself after a rough patch by sinking an eagle (2-under-par hole) on hole No. 16. Colin Lockwood (2 birdies) and Spokas (1 birdie) also had flashes of greatness on the day. Fremd’s Tee sank a stellar 5 birdies (holes’ No. 3, 5, 7, 12, 13) and finished 1-under-par 35 on both the front-nine and back-nine to earn medalist honors. Tee finished tied for 19th at state last year. Hersey’s Spokas tied for 15th right ahead of him in 2024. Buffalo Grove’s Cori Lee actually nailed a Journal-area high 6 birdies (holes No. 6, 7, 10, 13, 13, 17) to help him qualify for state. Lee finished 32nd at state a year ago. Prospect’s Ginsberg sank 3 birdies on the front-nine, where he shot 1-under-par 35 in the first half of the sectional.
Class 2A
De La Salle Sectional:
Course: White Pines Golf Club (par 36-36 — 72) in Bensenville
Advancing Teams (top 3): Wheaton Academy (289), St. Viator (296), F.W. Parker (306)
Eliminated Teams: DePaul Prep (310), Providence (310), Montini (314), Lemont (317), St. Rita (320), Marmion (340), Amundsen (344), St. Laurence (346), Oak Forest (356)
Medalist: Wheaton Academy’s Owen Coniaris shot 6-under-par 66 to win by 6 strokes.
Journal-Area Team Advancing to State:
St. Viator: Cullen Hughes (37-35 — 72; tied 2nd), Joe Lang (37-37 — 74; tied 9th), Mac Dean (38-37 — 75; tied 14th), Oscar Marzec (36-39 — 75; tied 14th), Zak Roesch (38-38 — 76; tied 18th), Matthew Wallace (38-43 — 81; tied 39th)
Journal-Area Notes: St. Viator had just one state qualifier last season, but the Lions qualified the whole team this time around after placing five golfers in the top 20 of the sectional. St. Viator shot a solid 309 score last year at sectionals, but missed qualifying for state by 5 strokes. The Lions wouldn’t be denied this time around after posting a superb 296 score. St. Viator is no stranger to state, qualifying for the first time in 1973-74, then returning in 1983 (3rd place), 1999, 2006 (2nd), 2007 (1st), 2008 (1st), 2009 (1st), 2013, 2015, 2017 (2nd) and most recently in 2018. St. Viator’s Hughes sank 5 birdies, including four on the back-nine, to pace the Lions at the sectional this year.
Class 1A
Timothy Christian Sectional:
Course: Oak Brook Golf Club (par 36-36 — 72)
Advancing Teams (Top 3): Timothy Christian (309), Prairie Central (320), Harvest Christian (322; advanced on tiebreaker over Beecher)
Journal-Area Notes: Northridge’s Tommy Svanascini (39-38 — 77) tied for sixth place to qualify for state, but he isn’t going alone. Christopher Carney (41-38 — 79) and Brendan Sherman (40-39 — 79) also made the cut to give the Knights three of the 10 individual qualifiers to state. The trio of Knights combined for 4 birdies on the day.
If you like this story, you can get a whole lot more practically every day of the week by subscribing to journal-topics.com. Click here to choose your preference of either print or online, or call 847-299-5511.
