The Lewis Cass boys golf team advanced past the Peru Sectional with a runner-up finish Monday at Rock Hollow Golf Club.
The defending champion Kings shot a 341 to finish 11 shots back of Western for the sectional title. But the Kings did advance to the regional as a team with a top three finish.
“The funny thing is we shot the exact same score as we did last year, 341, which won it last year but we were 11 shots off of Western this year,” Cass coach T.J. Miley said. “I was proud of the boys because we’ve struggled the past couple weeks. We’ve been at Rock twice, we played at the Rock Hollow Invite and then we also had our conference there this year for the first time. So it was a really good experience obviously and then we had some practice rounds out there. But I think we shot 356 both times before that so a couple of our boys were struggling, they weren’t playing bad golf but just not being able to score like they had all season. We still had a couple struggle but I was happy they were able to get that back down to the 341 range.”
Senior Rylan Stoller shot a 5-over par 77 to finish second among individuals, two shots back of sectional medalist Brody Fisher of Western.
Miley said Stoller’s round at Rock Hollow was impressive.
“That is awesome for him. He really had a great season this year,” he said. “Looking back in April at the Logansport Invitational he won with a 76. Then he played really well at conference, he made all-conference with something in the low 80s. Then to come out his senior year and fire a 77 is pretty awesome. He played very, very well, there were just a few putts I’m sure he’d like to have back that. But Rylan has a good head on his shoulders and just plays a very consistent game where he really doesn’t get in too much trouble. That would have won it last year, I think 78 tied for the lead. You just never know from year to year.”
Miley added Stoller thought about playing college golf at IUK but is instead going to pursue his real estate licence.
The top three teams advanced to the Warsaw Regional on Thursday at Stonehenge G.C. Northwestern was the third advancing team with a 349.
The sectional title was Western’s sixth all-time and first since 2018.
Junior Nolan Hines was second for the Kings with an 83, sophomore Michael Myers shot 89 and sophomore Brody Hillis shot 92. Senior Garrett Helvie added a 98.
Peru (356) finished in fourth place, Kokomo (358) was fifth, Southwood (380) was sixth, Eastern (389) was seventh, Tri-Central (391) was eighth, Wabash (392) was ninth, Maconaquah (401) was 10th and North Miami (413) was 11th. Taylor was incomplete.
Kokomo No. 4 player Canaan Horner and Peru No. 5 player Karter Schwartz shot 78s to tie for third place. Horner, Schwartz and Peru’s Mason Camden (84) advanced to the regional as the top three individuals on non-qualifying teams.
Miley is hoping the Kings play well again at the regional at Stonehenge on Thursday.
“We’re lucky enough to play in the Warsaw Invitational the first weekend in April, one of the very first tournaments. So the boys get a look at the course early on in the season,” he said. “We got to go up there [Tuesday] for a practice round so it’s playing much faster and firmer than early April. It’s a difficult course but it’s also like any golf course, if your misses are in the right spot you can still score fairly well. But we’ve got some really big schools and some of the smaller schools have some really good golfers coming. I’m not trying to put a number or anything on it, I’m just hoping they can play well.”
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