Rockford Lutheran just misses state boys golf trophy; NUIC golfer wins state title
Rockford Lutheran moved up to second place midway through the final round, but dropped to fourth and missed winning only the second top-three boys state golf trophy in school history by six strokes.
Lutheran finished with a two-day total of 642 at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington. Jake Guse, fourth last year, tied for seventh to win his second top-10 state individual medal to lead Lutheran. He shot 150 for two days. Joey Luna (162), Gabe Harezlak (164) and Luke Carlson (166) rounded out Lutheran’s scoring. All four return next year.
“It was disappointing not to win a trophy,” Lutheran coach Kevin Flack said, “but nobody gave up. We are all happy. It was a great year, winning regionals and winning sectionals. I wish we could have won a trophy, but I am proud of all the boys. They all had a great year.
“We will have basically our whole team back. We are looking to make a run at this tournament next year.”
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NUIC champion Thomas Herreau of River Ridge shot 143 to win the state individual title by two strokes. He is the first NUIC state champ since Stockton’s Trey Timpe in 2013 and the fourth state champ from either the NUIC or Big Northern in the past 11 years. Byron’s Trent Snodgrass won in 2016 and Winnebago’s Marcus Smith in 2018.
Class 2A boys
Byron shot 645 over two days at Weibring Golf Club in Normal to finish eighth, 17 shots out of third. Aaron Lorenz shot 158 to tie for 30th, Davis Baker 164, Maison Brandt 165 and Ryan Tucker 167 for the Tigers, who moved up to Class 2A for the first time. Boylan sophomore Cole Beto, the NIC-10 champion, tied for 43rd at 162.
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Class 2A girls
Boylan senior Eva Greenberg shot 156 for two rounds at Hickory Point in Decatur to tie for 23rd place, five strokes out of a top-10 medal. Belvidere junior Emma Pierson shot 168 to tie for 57th.
Class 1A girls
Stillman Valley junior Amelia Dunseth shot an 80 on Saturday to improve her opening round by seven strokes and tie for 23rd at Red Tail Run in Decatur. She was the only local golfer in the top 60.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Lutheran 4th at state Class 1A boys golf tournament
