Saint Joseph, Penn and Marian finish third through fifth at Uebele
LAPORTE — With state powers Valparaiso and Chesterton galloping away from the 23-team field at Friday’s 88th Uebele Invitational, Northern Indiana Conference powers South Bend Saint Joseph, Penn and Mishawaka Marian were left jockeying for position coming down the home stretch to next Saturday’s conference tournament at Pretty Lake in Plymouth.
The Huskies, Kingsmen and Knights, who are 1-1 in their dual matches against each other this season, could not keep up with No. 15 Valparaiso, which shot a one-over 289 at the par-72 Beechwood Golf Course to run away with the team title. That was six strokes ahead of its Duneland Conference foe, Chesterton, ranked No. 14 in this week’s Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association poll.
Coach Bret Bajdek’s Huskies continued their recent solid play by totaling 311 for third place, one stroke ahead of coach Tony Polizzotto’s Kingsmen with coach Alex Stopcyznski’s Knights finishing fifth at 317. Whichever team wins the NIC Tournament next Saturday will be crowned conference champion.
“We’re going in the right direction,” Bajdek said after the Huskies got a three-over 75 from sophomore No. 2 Tate Guyton, six-over 78s from junior No. 1 Thomas Raster and junior No. 3 Beau Basney and an 80 from junior No. 4 Jake Hirschler. “We’re looking forward to the conference tournament, and it sets up nicely with our sectional
tournament in a couple of weeks.”
Saint Joseph, Penn and Marian will play in the South Bend Sectional at Erskine Park on Monday, June 3 in a field that includes Trinity School at Greenlawn, which earned honorable mention honors in last week’s state poll but fell out this week. Only three of those four schools will move on to play in the June 6 regional at rugged Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte.
Stopczynski likes the way his team has been playing this week, starting with Wednesday’s 161-166 victory over Penn on Eberhart-Petro’s front nine. Sophomore John Hahn, who opened Friday with a triple-bogey 7 on Beechwood’s first hole, came back to shoot a three-over 75 thanks to four birdies and four bogeys over his final 17 holes.
“That (the victory over Penn) was the big one; the kids have put it together,” said Stopczynski, who liked the efforts he got Friday in senior No. 4 Ben Padros’ 79, an 81 from senior No. 3 Jackson Horvath and the 82 recorded by junior No. 5 Scottie Chakan in his first 18-hole round of the season. “John (Hahn) has been in a low spot for a week and a half. Now he’s back to hitting the ball. We told him to just hit the ball.”
Despite his team’s loss Wednesday to the Knights, Polizzotto was pleased with the way his team played Friday. “It seems that the last three years we’ve started out a little slow,” Polizzotto said. “We keep working at it and we’re getting better. Their attitudes are good.”
The Tribune-area teams were individually led by the one-over 73 shot by Penn senior No. 2 Jack Yewchuk, who announced earlier this month he would be attending Eastern Illinois this autumn.
“I hit the ball well today, gave myself a bunch of chances to make birdies,” said Yewchuk, who eagled his third hole of the day — Beechwood’s 463-yard sixth hole with a chip-in from the fringe. He then went to three-under with a birdie at No. 7 but then played his final 14 holes in four-over while making five bogeys. “My putting and short game have been pretty good.”
Penn senior No. 1 Dylan Mounts followed Yewchuk’s effort with a four-over 76. Penn’s Nos. 3-5 players all played solidly — junior Colten Donze shot 81, sophomore Corbin O’Hara 82 and junior Michael Basney 83.
Warsaw, led by No. 2 Breckin Christner’s 76, finished seventh at 319, one stroke ahead of LaLumiere, which got a 76 from Scottie Upp. New Prairie finished 11th at 339 with senior No. 1 Hunter Zdyb’s 78 leading the way.
Valparaiso senior Aiden Gutierrez, who won the 2022 state individual title in a three-hole playoff and was fifth a year ago, won medalist honors Friday at Beechwood with his four-under 68 which was three strokes better than classmate Liam Utesch. The Vikings had four golfers shoot 77 or better. The Trojans, meanwhile, got an even-par 72 from No. 2 player Paul Scott and had all five golfers shoot 77 or better.