Saint Joseph nips Trinity for Concord title; Fairfield’s Miller medalist

ELKHART — If the Saint Joseph boys golf team ends up making positive noise later this season, the Huskies surely will look back to four days in late April and early May when their season started to come together.

Saturday, coach Bret  Bajdek’s team won a tournament team title for the second consecutive day, this time over emerging state power Trinity School at Greenlawn by two strokes in the Concord Invitational at Bent Oak Golf Club.

Led by junior No. 1 Thomas Raster’s two-over-par 74, the Huskies had four golfers shoot under 80 — sophomore No. 2 Tate Guyton and junior No. 3 Beau Basney shot 77s and junior No. 4 Jake Hirschler carded a 79 — and were able to overcome the sudden illness of senior No. 5 Joey Borsodi, who withdrew before the turn.

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Saint Joseph totaled 307 to edge coach Jerry Janowski’s Titans, who last week won the inaugural Morris Park Invitational (formerly the Kaeppler) and earned honorable mention status in this week’s Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association poll. Led by senior No. 1 Jacob Palmer, a state qualifier last season who shot even-par 72, Trinity finished at 309 thanks to the 78s shot by freshman No. 2 Dane Sweikar and freshman No. 3 Nathan Palmer.

Fairfield, which finished third with a 318 total, was led by junior No. 1 Brayden Miller, who finished off a busy week on a positive note by shooting a three-under 69 to win medalist honors by two strokes over Elkhart Christian’s Aiden Hibbard.

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“We shot 146 and 147 in matches earlier this week and won a smaller tournament (the Benny Leonard Memorial Tournament at Eberhart-Petro) yesterday, so to come out and win this one today with all four guys in the 70s was huge,” Bajdek said. “We’ve known we are capable of this kind of golf. To finally do it will mean a ton of confidence for this team.”

The Huskies have another busy week coming up. Monday they host Jimtown in a Northern Indiana Conference match at Juday Creek, Tuesday they visit Culver Academies to play the world-renowned nine-hole Dickson Course and then return to Juday Creek to play NIC rival Elkhart Wednesday. They finish the week with two tournaments — the Uebele Invitational Friday at Beechwood in LaPorte and the Culver Academies Invitational Saturday at Notre Dame’s challenging Warren Golf Course.

Janowski, whose Trinity team earned a seven-stroke victory over Penn in the Morris Park Invitational two Fridays ago, let his team know about its new state ranking Saturday on the way over to the par-72, 6,504-yard Bent Oak course.

A week ago, the Titans were the hunters. Now they will be the hunted going forward because of the state recognition.

“We struggled today on the little stretch of holes (Nos. 3, 4 and 12) on the (southeast) corner,” Janowski said. “That knocked us out of winning for the day, but they kept fighting. I’m proud of them — 309 is a good score. The guys were glad to hear about it (the state recognition). I told them they earned it; they didn’t need to feel any pressure to prove that they belong. They’ve already done that.”

Trinity’s schedule this week is a little easier. Monday the Titans host South Central and Michigan City Marquette Catholic at Knollwood. Saturday, the Titans will play in the Kankakee Valley Invitational at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte, the site of the early June regional they hope to qualify for as a team out of the June 3 South Bend sectional at Erskine.

Fairfield’s Miller was glad to finish the week on a high note with his three-under 69. The future University of Cincinnati golfer, who finished sixth at last year’s state finals at Prairie View to win all-state honors for a second straight year, was disappointed with the way his week started — Miller shot a six-over 76 at Morris Park in Monday’s local qualifier for the U.S. Open.

“I just tried to keep a level mindset today,” Miller said. “I just tried to stay in the moment, and it paid off in the end. After Monday’s round at Morris Park, I played in a team match later that day. I then used the rest of the week to work on my game. I worked on hitting greens and my putting. I made some good ones (putts) at the end of the round today.”

CONCORD INVITATIONAL

ELKHART – Results from Saturday’s Concord Invitational at the par-72 (36-36), 6,504-yard Bent Oak Golf Club:

Teams

1. SOUTH BEND SAINT JOSEPH (307): Thomas Raster 38-36—74, Tate Guyton 38-39—77, Beau Basney 36-41—77, Jake Hirschler 37-42—79, Joey Borsodi WD.

2. TRINITY SCHOOL AT GREENLAWN (309): Jacob Palmer 37-35—72, Dane Sweikar 39-39—78, Nathan Palmer 38-40—78, Jack Cressy 37-45—82, Max Cressy 39-42—81.

3. FAIRFIELD (318): Brayden Miller 34-35—69, Miles Nine 41-39—80, Jasper Carl 42-41—83, Jake Elliott 43-44—87, Benjamin Kio 44-42—86.

4. ELKHART (324): Steven Webb 37-38—75, Will Cochrane 38-42—80, Ben Miller 40-42—82, Cameron Miller 44-43—87, Gabe Kazmierczak 45-48—93.

5. GOSHEN (327): Todd Kauffman 41-39—80, Myles McLaughlin 39-36—75, Braxten Sheets 43-53—96, Tyler Scott 40-44—84, Kendall Scott 42-46—88.

6. CULVER ACADEMY (329): Rory Sullivan 39-43—82, Grady Sullivan 38-44—82, Jak Chaney 47-42—89, Peter Liu 40-43—83, Manolo Osorio 38-44—82.

7. MISHAWAKA MARIAN (336): John Hahn 42-37—79, Mick Keefer 42-44—86, AJ Bishop 41-45—86, Jackson Horvath 42-43—85, Ben Padrnos 44-43—87.

8. WAWASEE (349): Myles Everingham 43-52—95, Maddux Everingham 41-41—82, Preston Scherer 49-42—91, Weston DeLong 44-46—90, Mason Shoemaker 46-40—86.

9. NORTHWOOD (350): Collin Deatsman 52-46—98, Trevor Barnett 44-44—88, Caleb Vincent 43-41—84, Sam Holden 44-49—93, Bryce Blosser 42-43—85.

10. ELKHART CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (354): Aiden Hibbard 33-38—71, Kian Hibbard 41-42—83, Carson Hiler 51-53—104, Caleb Overmyer 48-48—96, Cooper Curtis 55-56—111.

11. CONCORD (397): Nathan Potter 41-45—86, Rogan Russell 51-42—93, Mason Oiler 55-52—107, Alex Nixon 55-60—115, Wyatt Morgan 54-57—111.

12. LAKELAND (431): Brady Ferguson 53-49—102, Ethan Rasbaugh 51-61—112, Deagan Maggard 51-53—104, Clayton Trump 52-64—116, Jack Yoder 52-61—113.

Individuals

69: Brayden Miller (Fairfield) 34-35

71: Aiden Hibbard (Elkhart Christian Academy) 33-38

72: Jacob Palmer (Trinity School at Greenlawn) 37-35

74: Thomas Raster (South Bend Saint Joseph) 38-36

75: Myles McLaughlin (Goshen) 39-36

76: Steven Webb (Elkhart) 37-38

77: Tate Guyton (South Bend Saint Joseph) 38-39; Beau Basney (South Bend Saint Joseph) 36-41

78: Nathan Palmer (Trinity School at Greenlawn) 38-40; Dane Seikar (Trinity School at Greenlawn) 39-39

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Saint Joseph edges Trinity for high school golf title at Concord