Mendota golfers claim second place in Three Rivers meet

Mendota’s Cale Strouss hits a chip shot during Three Rivers Conference Tournament on Sept. 19 at the Mendota Golf Club. (Reporter photo)

Rochelle defeated the Mendota varsity golf team, 168-173, on Sept. 18 at Rochelle.

Owen Aughenbaugh turned in the low score for the Trojans with a 41. Also shooting in the 40s were Dane Doyle (43), Evan McPheeters (44), Brody Hartt (45) and Grady Jones (49). Others in the lineup were Cale Strouss and Jonas Fitzgerald with 52s and Alex Holland with a 64.

Mendota fired a 192 to easily handle Rochelle (218) in the junior varsity meet.

Jace Baird was the medalist with a 43. Kooper Novak checked in next with a 47, followed by Nick Sheridan (50), Collin Coss (52), Brody Kaecker (60) and Haden Shakespeare (70).

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Mendota entertained teams from the conference in the Three Rivers Conference Tournament on Sept. 19 at the Mendota Golf Club.

The Trojans found their home cooking to their liking as they finished second in the team standings with a 348. Only Riverdale (308) had a better score than Mendota in the 12-team event. Finishing behind Mendota were Sherrard (349), Princeton (352), Bureau Valley (353), Hall (354), Newman (358), Rockridge (359), Monmouth-Roseville (362), Erie-Prophetstown (382), Orion (406) and Kewanee (475).

Aughenbaugh led the way for the Trojans with a round of 82, which was good enough for eighth place overall, which earned him first-team all-conference honors. Hartt (86) and Doyle (87) made second-team all-conference and finished in 15th place and 17th place, respectively.

Also competing for the Trojans were Strouss (93), McPheeters (98) and Jones (98).

The top five individual finishers were Aidan Dorathy of Riverdale (74), Mason Smyser of Riverdale (77), Blake Sutton of Riverdale (77), Landen Plym of Hall (79) and Wyatt Novotny of Bureau Valley (77).

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Mendota’s junior varsity team competed in the Ottawa JV Invite on Sept. 20. The Trojans took third place in the event with a score of 364. Sycamore claimed the top spot with a 338 and Streator was second at 357. Rounding out the field were Ottawa (371), Morris (371), LaSalle-Peru (372), Sandwich (379) and Rochelle (413).

Fitzgerald had the low score for MHS golfers with an 82, which placed him in the third overall position in the individual standings. Gavin Sedevie of Sycamore was first with a 74 and Kolden Neumann of Streator grabbed second at 81.

Other Trojans swinging clubs were Coss (88), Sheridan (96), Baird (98), Novak (99) and Holland (103).

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Twelve teams competed in the Mendota Modified Ryder Cup on Sept. 23 at the Mendota Golf Club.

Ottawa was the champion with a 221, followed by Morris (232), Rock Falls (239) and Mendota (241). Also participating were Bureau Valley (248), LaSalle-Peru (249), Newman (252), Hall (257), Princeton (268), Stillman Valley (278), Kewanee (320) and Putnam County (331).

The MHS tandem of Aughenbaugh and Hartt finished in seventh place with a 77, while Doyle and Shakespeare were 10th with a 78. Baird and Fitzgerald (86) also competed for Mendota.

A duo from Morris won with a 73.