Jake Delaney is state bound.

The St. Bede junior advanced to the Class 1A State Golf Meet by shooting a 79 at Prairie View Golf Course to advance out of Monday’s Byron Sectional. He was on the cusp of qualifying for most of the afternoon until the cut line moved up to 80 at the very end.

“It was looking like it was going to be pretty close. I didn’t know what I needed to do to advance. I figured the cut line would be just to break 80, and I was doing really good after nine,” Delaney said. “I was 3 over and I was doing fine, then I ended up making a triple bogey on the 16th hole. I lost a ball on two consecutive holes, so I was nervous.

“I ended up going par-birdie to finish, so making birdie on the last hole meant a lot, kind of felt like it sealed the deal.”

Delaney said “pretty much everything was working well” except for his putting, and “it was going really good early on.”

He was the only one of the Bureau County foursome to move on. St. Bede’s Brendan Pillion (84) and Hall cousins Landen Plym (87) and Grant Plym (88) missed the cut.

“Although today did not go as well as either had hoped, it is a great learning experience, and both players will be back even stronger next year,” Hall coach Mason Kimberley said.

The Class 1A boys state meet tees up Friday at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington. Delaney is excited to go for the first time.

“Just try to extend the season as long as you can, I guess. It’s never an opportunity that I’ve had,” he said. “Sectional last year I shot over 90, and I don’t even know if there was a state meet last year. It means a lot to get that far. I don’t know many guys that do it, so it means a lot to me, and I know my parents are excited about it, so it’s really cool.”

1A Girls

At Kewanee: The St. Bede girls golf team shot a 404 as a team to tie for 10th Monday at the Geneseo Class 1A Sectional at Kewanee Dunes.

Senior Aleanna Mendoza led the Bruins with a 91.

St. Bede opened on No. 10, with Mendoza shooting a 47 for the back nine. On the front, she bogeyed the par-4 first hole before a par on No. 2. After a bogey on No. 3, a par-3 in which her first shot found a sand trap short of the green and her chip out of the trap landed in the rough, she then birdied No. 4, a 499-yard par-5.

Gianna Grivetti shot a 95. She played the back-nine in 48, the highlight of that stretch being a birdie on the 292-yard, par-4 No. 16. She played the front nine with a 47.

Brianne Briggs shot a 102, Ava Manicki shot a 116 and Petranella Mitchell shot a 162.

Boylan won the sectional title with a 325. Peoria Notre Dame took second (336) and Rock Falls was third (349).

2A Boys

At Metamora: Princeton’s Jaden Eggers shot a 91 at Metamora Field Golf Club and did not not advance. Jacksonville senior Brady Kaufman was medalist at 70 and a 77 was needed to advance.