Boys golf: Bellush, Bloomington South better than ever at sectional

Bloomington South's Nick Bellush has been on a terrific run of golf lately, shooting 73 or better over his previous seven rounds for a collective 6-under par to end the regular season.

That said, the senior took it to another level on a sunny Monday in the Bloomington North boys' sectional at Cascades, hitting all 18 greens in regulation (meaning he had a chance to putt for birdie on every hole) for the first time ever in a competitive round.

He finished with a career best 5-under 66 as the No. 4 Panthers' scooped up a ninth consecutive sectional title with a 1-under 283. Bloomington North snuck into second with a 309 and Brownstown Central took the last regional spot with a 310. Edgewood's Luke Garrett made it out as an individual with a postseason best 75 while Bedford North Lawrence golfers Colton Staggs and Houston Corbin grabbed the other two spots after the Stars fell to fourth.

They will all tee off at the Washington Regional on Thursday and no team there will be hotter than South. Both Bellush's score and South team's score are the best ever recorded in a Bloomington area sectional going back at least 53 years.

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The sectional was traditionally held at Otis Park in Bedford until 2012 when it was moved to the old Indiana University Course, then to the Bloomington Country Club in 2018-19 and then Cascades, where Bellush lit it up, beating the 67 Seymour's Owen Marshall had in 2021.

"I've been struggling with my irons recently," Bellush said. "And so I went out and had a lesson, kind of hit more three-quarter shots, flighting them in there. And I went out yesterday and practiced for a couple hours and that seemed to help a lot. Went with it and it happened to go good today."

To the tune of six birdies and a bogey, while shooting 34 on the front and a sizzling 32 on the back.

"If you're hitting the fairways on this kind of course, you're going to have a wedge in anyways and you can always give yourself a putt," Bellush said. "It might not be the closest, but tap-in pars are good.

"At points, it was frustrating because I wasn't making many (birdie) putts. But I just kept with it and toward the end I just started getting it closer and closer and got a few birdies coming in."

South kills it 1 through 5

Besides Bellush, the Panthers had two others at par or better while coming up just one shot short of the school record set at Winding River during the Conference Indiana meet in 2017.

Happy Gilmore carded a 69 but looked exasperated at the scorers table adding up his card.

"I bogeyed holes 2 and 4, which I feel like are pretty good birdie holes and and I bogeyed 9 from about 40 yards off the green," Gilmore said. "There's just a few holes out there I hit a bad tee shot. I got myself in position to make birdie but it just seemed like I did it only on a few holes and missed a lot of short putts.

"So it was sort of exhausting out there."

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Connor Byon had a par 71 while freshman Colton Watson had 77 and Harrison Bomba had a 79.

"Nick, Happy and Connor have been playing some tremendous golf throughout the season," South coach Dustin Carver said. "But down the stretch here, it's just been amazing. To produce scores like we have, you have to have a 4 and a 5 and Colton Watson and Harrison Bomba have just been playing tremendous golf down the stretch."

Watson started off with a 43 on the front and then managed to whip out a 34 on the more difficult Pine nine, including a birdie 2 on No. 17. Bomba had to gather himself after his mother was hit by a golf ball during the round.

"Colton got off a tough start on the front nine and fought back," Carver said. "It's never quit. One shot at a time and you're going to be able to get back. And they've got the firepower to do it which is cool to see.

"Harrison's mom got hit in the head during the round and it kind of rattled him. The next couple holes he went bogey-triple and still shot in the 70s, which is pretty awesome."

Just as Bellush has been on a roll of late, so have all his teammates.

"Obviously it started at Conference Indiana and I always look at that last third of the season, and see where we're at," Carver said. "From Conference throughout we've been playing some tremendous golf. So super pleased with where we're at right now."

North wins the battle

Brownstown Central made it out for the first time since 2014 and broke a string of five straight years of South-BNL-North finishes with the Cougars finishing above third for the first time since winning in 2013. It came down to eight shots, with the Stars at 317.

"We talked about that beforehand, about how every shot counts and being able to go to bed tonight knowing that you didn't let your teammates down on a single shot," North coach Harrison Carmichael said. "Whether we make it out or we don't, that's what's important, that you were 100 percent committed on every swing today and do your best."

Simon Deliyannis led the way with a steady 73 while Jacob Knapp had a 75 and Grant McCrea a 76 with freshman Rex Speer's 85 as fifth man pulling North into second with Petre Lee carding a 90. After a tough stretch, the Cougars found a way to relax and reset over the past week.

"The beginning of the season was pretty good and then in the middle of the season, we were on a downward trend," Deliyannis said. "Got a bit wobbly, but I guess we pulled it back together for sectionals."

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They took a break on Tuesday after their last tournament, Deliyannis said and a team bonding activity also helped.

"So we were excited for today," he said. "It was good tension reliever."

"I was pleased with how they bounced back today," Carmichael said. "We played poorly the past couple weeks and I was a little nervous coming into today that it might manifest into having some poor rounds. But I think that they bounced back.

"Simon really led from start to finish by example. Jacob started off really rough, but after about four holes, I could see he clicked it into gear. I was proud of how they played."

Cool hand Luke leads Edgewood

Junior Luke Garrett was Edgewood's lone survivor, coming up with his best sectional score to make it out as an individual. The Mustangs started on No. 10. He birdied that with a 20-foot putt, but double-bogeyed No. 12 and settled in after that.

"I was trying to keep it as close to even par as possible," Garrett said. "I made a lot of bogeys but enough birdies coming in to get it done. I'm excited. I don't really know the regional course so I have no expectations for it."

"He's been playing pretty good this last week or so, so I wasn't too concerned about that," Edgewood coach Garry Lee said. "I was hoping he'd get a little help. I knew it was a contest for fourth. The (seed) score I turned in was 338-339, so we were not off very much."

As for the rest of the Mustangs, the only senior in their quintet was Joe West (94). Garrett, Carter Cheaney (85), Calvin McDonald (88) and Mitch Deckard (95) will all be back next year.

"Joe had a couple bad holes and Calvin started off double-triple-double and he shoots 88," Lee said. "Carter had a couple bad holes, just kind of the same thing we've done all season. We've had three times where we all play well.

"I think they all know what they need to work on. So hopefully, they will. I don't have to worry about Luke. If anything, I have to worry about him playing too much."

Garrett is pouring everything he has into golf and watching it pay off.

"The main thing is just hitting more range balls, practicing seven days a week, no days off," Garrett said. "Pretty much much working as hard as I can hitting every area of my game every day."

Two Stars to regional

Bedford North Lawrence's string of eight straight runner-up finishes and regional appearances ran out, but the Stars will still be repped by individual qualifiers Colton Staggs (77) and Houston Corbin (78), who took different paths to the same destination.

Staggs, who tied for 10th, had his struggles on the front nine with a 41 before powering back with a 36 on the back, which is longer and usually elevates scores. Corbin followed that course, with a 34 start then held on with a 44 finish.

BNL's usual No. 1, Jett Jones, was coming off a recent back injury and was just a tick off, shooting a 79.

"He gutted it out today, but he didn't have much strength off the tee," Heim said. "And that hurt us as a team. But Colton has played well for us all year long. Houston Corbin's another senior, I'm just proud of him sticking it out, played well on the front, didn't play well on the back but found a way to get it around in 78. He's been up and down and that was one of his better rounds so I hope it carries over into regional.

"Glad we got at least two individuals out if the team didn't make it."

Drew McKee had an 83 and Tyler Bellush an 86 to round out BNL's effort.

OV shut out

Owen Valley's season came to an end quickly in its first assignment to the Bloomington Sectional.

Kolton Jackson, a regional qualifier last year at Martinsville, couldn't make it out this time, shooting an 84. Jake Cunningham was next at 90.

Eastern 6th at Terre Haute

Eastern Greene's season also came to an end at Hulman Links in Terre Haute with a 385 for a sixth place finish.

Terre Haute North (328), Terre Haute South (335) and Northview (348) advanced to the Washington Regional, while Gavin Conner of TH North won medalist honors with an 80. Individual qualifiers were Derek Dean (81) and Collin Akers (85) of West Vigo and Calvin Myers of Bloomfield, who had an 88.

Korbin Ikerd led the T-Birds with a 94, while Nate Myers had a 95 with 98s from Logan Russell and Roman Valentine and a 118 from Jackson Brewer.

BLOOMINGTON NORTH BOYS' GOLF SECTIONAL

Team scores (top 3 advance to regional) — 1. Bloomington South 283; 2. Bloomington North 309; 3. Brownstown Central 310; 4. Bedford North Lawrence 317; 5. Seymour 341; 6. Edgewood 342; 7. Salem 366; 8. Brown County 375; 9. Owen Valley 395; 10. West Washington 406; Mitchell NS; Medora NS.

Individual leaders — 1. Nick Bellush, BS, 66; 2. Happy Gilmore, BS, 69; 3. Connor Byon, BS, 71; 4. Micah Sheffer, BwnCent, 72; 5. Simon Deliyannis, BN, 73; T6. Jacob Knapp, BN, 75; Luke Garrett, Edg, 75; 8. Grant McCrea, BN, 76; T9. Colton Staggs, BNL, 77; Colton Watson, BS, 77. Individual qualifiers — Garrett 75; Staggs 77; Houston Corbin, BNL, 78.

Other Bloomington South — Harrison Bomba 79. Other Bloomington North — Rex Speer 85; Petre Lee 90. Other Bedford North Lawrence — Jett Jones 79, Drew McKee 83, Tyler Bellush 86. Other Edgewood — Carter Cheaney 85, Calvin McDonald 88, Joe West 94, Mitch Deckard 95. Owen Valley — Kolton Jackson 84, Jake Cunningham 90, Cobe Bault 106, Cooper King 115, Conner Deckard 120.

TERRE HAUTE NORTH SECTIONAL

Team scores — 1, Terre Haute North 328, 2. Terre Haute South 335; 3. Northview 348; 4. West Vigo 350; 5. Sullivan 382; 6. Eastern Greene 385; 7. White River Valley 392; 8. Shakamak 395; 9. Bloomfield 408; 10. North Central 414; 11. Linton 458.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Boys golf: Bellush, Bloomington South win 9th straight sectional title