After a disastrous first nine holes on Friday, Gibault golfer Steven Souchek rallied to tie for second in the Illinois Class 1A individual boys golf tournament at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington Saturday.
Souchek, a junior for the Hawks _ a tiny Catholic school in Waterloo, shot the best round of the day with an even-par 72 and had a two-day total of 148, four strokes behind winner Shane Convery of Lincolnwood, who had a 73 on Saturday.
Kyle Gunther of Peoria Christian also had a 148 after finishing with a 74 on Saturday.
"I'm pretty satisfied," Souchek said by phone. "It was pretty good. I felt confident today."
Souchek needed the shot of confidence after shanking two balls and topping another on the front nine on Friday. Despite those miscues, he wound up with a 39 on the front and a 76 on the day, five strokes from the top.
"Today, I came out hitting the ball pretty well," he said. "I told myself I was going to go out swinging. Second is pretty good."
On Saturday, Souchek had three birdies in his round but missed five other birdie attempts.
"I rolled in for par and those putts helped," he said.
Other locals in the 1A individual tournament were Drew Weisenborn of Columbia, who had 162, Brett Guthrie of Piasa Southwestern shot 164 along with Danny Selby of Alton Marquette and Jered Hogan of Roxana finished with 165.
Across town in the Class 2A individual tournament at Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University in Normal, Waterloo High School senior Wils Hawn earned a medal Saturday for the second year in succession.
Hawn, a senior, shot a 6-over par 77 finishing with a two-day total of 152 to finish in a tie for sixth with last year's champion David Flynn of Wheaton Academy. Logan Stauffer of Normal U. High won the tournament with a 147 after shooting a 1-under 70 on Saturday.
"I grinded it out to the best of my ability," Hawn said by phone. "I would have liked to have done better. But I finished okay. If you didn't hit the fairways, you weren't going to score. It was just a grind."
Hawn, who was tied for first heading into Saturday and had finished fifth last season, counted three birdies in his round Saturday, but had a triple bogey and a double bogey that hurt his chances for an overall title.
"He struggled all day and only hit two fairways," said coach Nancy Neal. "He had some great up and downs for pars. No putts were going in. But he never quit on me."
Two strokes behind Hawn was Brendan Bargetzi of Highland who earned a medal after shooting a two-day score of 154, including 73 on Saturday. Bargetzi tied for 10th with Josh Edison of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin. James Leopold of Althoff shot 170.
In Class 3A at The Den at Fox Creek in Bloomington, Edwardsville's Devlin Keenoy just missed a medal after ending tied for 11th with 154. Teammate Alex Flaugher ended with 156, Colin Ahlvers of Collinsville shot 159 and teammate Nathan Nottrott had 167. Brett Denap of Granite City shot 168 and Dan Weiler wound up with 188.
In the girls Class AA tournament at Hickory Ridge in Carbondale, Jae Yang of Mascoutah was 15th with 157 after shooting an 82 on Saturday. Kristi Tschudin of Belleville East ended with 163, Caitlin Osborn of Edwardsville had 177 and Kelsi Wuller shot 179.
In the Class A tournament at Crab Orchard Golf Course in Carterville, Abby Bergkoetter of Freeburg scored 199, while teammate Taylor Koeller shot 200 and Suzi Johnes of Alton Marquette had 215.
