Seneca boys rally to Tri-County championship

PONTIAC — To say Wednesday was a red-letter day for Seneca would be grossly inappropriate, considering the results.

Make that a green-letter day and you’d be closer to the mark.

Noah Quigley, AJ Stiegler and Austin Marshall captured the second, third and fourth places in the individual standings to lead the Irish to a come-from-behind victory at the Tri-County Conference Meet at the Pontiac Elks Club Golf Course.

Seneca trailed by as many as 11 strokes late in the rain-soaked front nine, but pulled things together through a dry but windy back nine to escape with a 386-393 win over Roanoke-Benson.

Marquette [407] placed third followed by Putnam County [444], Midland [445], Woodland [456] and Henry [458].

The Lady Irish made it a sweep Rylee Stenzel. The junior’s score of 87 gave her medalist honors, leading the SHS ladies to a 464-514 win over Roanoke-Benson, the only other league school to field a full team.

Seneca coach Bryan Erickson used the iwanamaker app to track the team scores by hole and told his players after the first nine holes they were “still in this thing.”

“I told them the conditions were changing and if they could stay with it and be happy with bogey golf on the back, we had a chance,” said Erickson, “and sure enough, things started going our way. Multiple guys for us shot better in the wind. … It was a great comeback in pretty tough conditions.

“Rylee played well, had all parts of her game working today and had a fantastic round. An 87 in these conditions was outstanding … Whether you’d consider it a girls championship or not with only two teams, we were the best today.”

Quigley fired a 91 to place just behind the 88 by R-B’s DJ Norman in the race for boys medalist.

Stiegler trimmed his back nine by five for a 50-45-95 and Marshall dropped 12 strokes for a 55-43-98. Those performances, along with points earned for their regular-season efforts, earned them all a spot on the all-conference team, along with teammate Holden Flynn.

Owen Quigley added an 11th-place 102 for the Irish team total.

“In conditions like this with the wind blowing 30 miles an hour, I’ll take second any day,” said Noah Quigley. “The biggest adjustment was clubbing up or clubbing down for the wind. I just tried to stay aggressive … and we really turned it on as a team in those last few holes. We’re pretty happy about it.”

Stenzel shot a 40 on her opening back nine, and though she struggled with the wind in her finish, she proved ready for next week’s regional, as did teammates Laura Yegge with her runner-up 108.

“I could have done better on my last nine, but the wind just beat me,” Stenzel said. “My drivers and my irons were working and when they didn’t, my putter was saving me. I feel pretty good about my day.”

Marquette’s lone female, Kaitlyn Magoonaugh finished with a 112 for third.

Sophomore Carson Zellers led the Marquette boys with a seventh-place 100 followed by an eighth-place 101 by all-TCC choice Grant Waldron, a 10th-place 102 by Luke Couch.

Putnam County got as team-best and sixth-place overall 100 from all-conference pick Chris Uzella.

“We didn’t do as well as we wanted to do,” said PC coach Sydney Eustice, “but with four freshmen, this first conference tournament was a good experience for them.”

For a consistent Woodland group, Nick Hoekstra was a surprise leader with a 111.

Sophomore Ayden Malavolti led Henry with a 102 to place ninth.