Oct. 3—CATLIN — Ryan Loschen couldn’t help but start anxiously biting his nails during Wednesday’s boys’ golf Class 1A Salt Fork Regional.
But it wasn’t from behind the wheel of a coach’s cart at Danville Country Club.
He was back home at his farm.
St. Joseph-Ogden’s coach joined his team at the start of the day to get everybody settled in, but he had to leave early to tend to the farm. A few hours later, Loschen had nothing to worry about, as his Spartans punched their ticket to next week’s sectional with a team score of 353, just five shots back of Casey-Westfield.
“My guys were pretty comfortable going in (Wednesday),” Loschen said. “I told them, ‘It’s golf. You’re going to have your good days and bad days. Just go out there and enjoy it. If you’re having fun, you’re more than likely going to play well.’ It was a beautiful day, and my guys played really, really well.”
That included SJ-O junior Graham Ray, who shot a 10-over-par 81 to win the individual title. This is Ray’s first year playing team golf.
He scored in the triple digits in the first tournament of the season
“I knew he had it in him the entire time,” Loschen said. “His scores have been constantly going down all season. He definitely stepped up his game (Wednesday) and really played well. Graham has the perfect demeanor for golf. He doesn’t get too high or too low. He just enjoys himself while he’s out there. He’s got tons of talent and tons of game, and it definitely showed.”
Just below Ray was junior teammate Asher Pruemer in fifth with an 86. He’s been Loschen’s “steady Eddie” all season at the team’s No. 1 spot and is also new to the game. Pruemer started playing last year, and his scores are good enough to hang with some of the best golfers in the area.
“It gives them a big confidence boost going into sectionals,” Loschen said of Ray and Pruemer’s performance Wednesday. “Both of them have all the confidence in the world, and I’ll go to battle with those guys any day of the week.”
While SJ-O was safely locked in the second position, there was a three-team battle for third place, the winner of which would move on to sectionals. Salt Fork, St. Thomas More and Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin were going shot for shot down the stretch and all finished within three strokes of each other. Ultimately, the Storm’s 365 was just enough to get the job done, with the Sabers two shots back and the Blue Devils three back. Cooper Burton led Salt Fort with a third-place 84, Kendal Shults was right behind him in fourth with an 85 and Hayden Knight was one of many to tie for 10th at 90.
Area golfers advancing to sectionals from the Salt Fork regional as individuals include STM’s Kyan Pope and Wyatt Kirby, BHRA’s Cruz Dubois and Mason Brines, Heritage’s Anthony Happ, Chrisman/Georgetown-Ridge Farm’s Jase Latoz, Schlarman’s Jonas Lane and Villa Grove’s Karder Kirkman and Will Schweighart.
The lone area team to come away with a championship Wednesday was a group that has been there and done that. LeRoy won the 1A Moweaqua Regional title with a team score of 310, clear of second place by 24 strokes, marking the second year in a row the Panthers have brought home a regional plaque.
“What makes them special is they play with each other all summer out at our local course, and they love practicing together and having a good time afterward together,” LeRoy coach Mark Edmundson said. “The fact that they’ve played a lot of golf and worked on their game is very cool, but the fact that they’re so close and really are a team in an individual sport makes it that much better.”
Leading the way for the Panthers was junior Tate Harden, who won the individual title with his 1-over-par round of 73, becoming LeRoy’s first-ever regional champion. He told Edmundson after the round that he got nervous after starting 2-under par through the first five holes. After a few bogeys, he got right back to playing solid golf and even birdied two of the last three holes.
“Tate had a great day. Tate had the day of his life, which was great to see,” Edmundson said. “Any time he had an issue where it wasn’t going right, he immediately righted the ship and had a good hole or two.”
The Panthers made up a large chunk of the top 10. Brycen Umstattd, who normally paces the Panthers, tied for third (78), Sam Edmundson tied for fifth (79) and Jordan Cox tied for seventh (80). Those four have been LeRoy’s bread and butter all season, and Wednesday was no different.
“Regardless of the order, they always seem to come through,” Edmundson said. “They play so much golf that they’ve just gotten more confident. They’ve had some success, and they expect success.”
Along with SJ-O’s Ray and LeRoy’s Harden, junior Ethan McFarling of Fisher captured an individual title at the 1A Dwight Regional. McFarling shot a 6-over-par 77 to win by four strokes and lead the Bunnies to an advancing third-place team finish. Joining him toward the top of the leaderboard was teammate Gage Harseim, who tied for eighth with a 90.
Prairie Central and Rantoul were the only two area teams competing at the 2A Coal City Regional, and they both advanced. The Hawks placed second with a 333, led by Lakin Bachtold and Easton Friedman, both whom tied for ninth with 82s. The Eagles took third with a 340, led by Eli Donaldson’s sixth-place 80 and Justin Merrill’s ninth-place 82.
The following area golfers’ teams fell short of advancing, but each of them will be competing at sectionals as individuals: Hoopeston Area’s Cy Tuggle, Trenton Montez, Ethan Hsu and Felix Cantu; Champaign Central’s Evan Kolb, Jeremy McCoy and John Timmons; Arcola’s Canton Wesch and Kody Burdick; Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley’s Carter Eichelberger; Sullivan’s Caden Saul; Armstrong-Potomac’s Ryan Edwards; Ridgeview’s Alec Harper; and Iroquois West’s Bryce Rogers.
