Hearts Girls Win Apollo Tournament; Boys Have Tough Day

(THE EFFINGHAM HEARTS ARE 2017 APOLLO CONFERENCE GIRLS GOLF TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS. LEFT TO RIGHT: COACH JERRY TRIGG, AVA BOEHM, KEIRA HIRTZEL, ABBI BURGESS, LINDSEY STEPHENSON, KENNEDY COLLIER, AND MORGAN KROUSE)

The Effingham Hearts girls golf squad captured the Apollo Conference Tournament championship Monday. 

Jerry Trigg's squad totaled 355, two strokes better than Charleston at 357. Mattoon, Lincoln and Mahomet-Seymour finished 3-4-5 with totals of 383, 405 and 458, respectively.

(EFFINGHAM'S ALL-APOLLO CONFERENCE TEAM MEMBERS: FROM LEFT, KEIRA HIRTZEL, ABBI BURGESS AND KENNEDY COLLIER)

Junior Abbi Burgess led Effingham with an 84, including a 40 on the back. Burgess finished third overall. Junior Keira Hirtzel finished fifth overall with an 88, 42 on the front. Sophomore Kennedy Collier finished tied for seventh overall with a 91, including a 44 on the front.

Also counting for Effingham was freshman Ava Boehm with a 92, 46 on each side. Also senior Lindsey Stephenson shot a 95, 46 on the back; and sophomore Morgan Krouse shot a 96, 45 on the back.

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It was a tougher day for the Hearts' boys squad. Effingham finished last with a 382 total. Counters were Jacob Sigg with an 85, Ryan Sandifer with a 96, Brett Koester with a 100, and Tate Niebrugge with a 101. Colby Heaton shot a 117. Aiden Beck was ill and unable to compete.

Charleston won the boys' meet with a 304 total, while Mattoon finished second with a 324 total. Mahomet-Seymour 354, Mt. Zion 359, Lincoln 359 and Taylorville 378 were third through sixth.

Boys coach Jeff Schafer said, "This was a very disappointing day for us; one of our players (Beck) was sick and not able to play, then the rest of us just did not perform very well. Congrats to Charleston; they played a great round of golf, and Mattoon did well also; we have to have a good week of golf to get ready for next week's regional at home."