St. Anthony Advances To Boys State Golf

Members of the St. Anthony golf squad are, left to right, Coach Phil Zaccari, Jared Hutchison, Jeff Niebrugge, Garrett Hixenbaugh, Nick Wortman, Connor Greene, Sam Wortman and Nate Schmidt.

ROBINSON -- Effingham St. Anthony High School finished third to advance to the Class 1A State Golf Tournament after competing in the Robinson Sectional at Quail Creek Country Club Monday. This was the eighth straight time the Bulldogs will head to state and also their 13th appearance in the past 15 years.

"I might be biased," said St. Anthony Coach Phil Zaccari, "but I feel that our sectional was probably the toughest in the state. There were at least five teams at this sectional that could have definitely moved on. We were just fortunate and made enough putts to take the next step. Quail Creek G.C. used to host a P.G.A. Tour stop, it has always been one of the tougher sites for a sectional."

Garrett Hixenbaugh totaled a 37-40 -- 77 to finish tied for fourth. Also scoring for the Bulldogs were Connor Greene 38-41 -- 79, Nick Wortman 45-42 -- 87 and Jared Hutchison 42-46 -- 88. Non-counting scores were Jeff Niebrugge 44-47 -- 91 and Sam Wortman 47-56 -- 103.

Medalist was McLeansboro's Landon Vaughn with a 74. Nashville won the team championship with a 323 followed by McLeansboro 324, St. Anthony, Robinson 336, Carmi-White County 340, Carlyle 343, Carterville 351, Centralia Christ Our Rock 357, Breese Mater Dei 367, Chester 380, Teutopolis 394 and Okawville 403. The top three teams and top 10 individuals not members of qualifying teams advance to state.

"Garrett played solid throughout the day. He putted well and along with Connor Greene led the way for us," said Zaccari. "These guys have been our steady force throughout the year and they held form for us today as well. Senior, Nick Wortman showed his toughness, even though he did not strike the ball well, he never gave up on the round as did Jared Hutchison.

"I am so very proud of this team, with only two returnees from last season's sectional champions, this time set the goal to keep our state appearance streak alive and they completed that goal. We have done the hard part, making it to the finals. We know from past experience, anything can happen/"

Advancing as individuals were Jacob Eklund (Carterville) 75, Austin Grote (Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran) 76, John Casolari (Flora) 77, Garrett Mott (Vienna) 77, Sam Range (Waterloo Gibault Catholic) 78, Andy Vaughan (Carmi-White County) 80, Neal Northcott (Carmi-White County) 80, Tom Goodman (Robinson) 81, Brandon Jansen (Carlyel) 82 and William Murphy (Mount Olive) 82.

Teutopolis competed but did not advance. Members of the team scoring were Chad Zerrusen 43-44 -- 87, Christian Deters 45-50 -- 95, Justin Kowalski 50-55 -- 105 and Kyle Brumleve 60-68 -- 128. Non-counting scores were Evan Schlink 54-54 -- 108 and Ryan Sandschafer 54-53 -- 107.

The Bulldogs will now advance to the State Finals Friday and Saturday at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington.