There was no drama to the Class 1A State Golf Meet in Bloomington over the weekend.

Wyatt Novotny made sure of it.

The Bureau Valley senior led from start to finish at Prairie Vista Golf Course, shooting a two-day total of even-par 144, good for a 2-stroke edge over Teutopolis senior Coen Pennington to claim the 2025 IHSA State championship.

Novotny opened with a 2-under 69 round as Friday’s leader in the clubhouse and shot a 2-over 73 in Saturday’s final round to clinch the crown.

He is the first state golf champion from Bureau County, just the second state medalist from Bureau Valley following Justin VanLanduit, who placed ninth 30 years ago in the first year of the school district in 1995.

Novotny said the title of state champ feels good.

“I’ve been working for that title for the past four years. I still haven’t fully processed it yet. Even looking at the pictures from there, it still doesn’t make sense,” Novotny said Monday morning.

The Storm ace went right to work on Friday. Novotny shot a 3-under 33 with three birdies on the front 9, with a 1-over-par 37 with two birdies on the back 9, good for a 2-stroke lead over Fulton’s Jacob Foss.

“After that 9, I said, ‘OK, this is your tournament to win,’” Novotny said.

He admitted to not getting much sleep Friday night and felt some pressure when he arrived at the course Saturday, but that quickly all went away.

“Once I got out on the course and got into my routine, it wasn’t that bad,” he said. “It’s trust the work I put into it, trust my game. (I told myself) ‘Obviously, you’re here because of how good you played the first day. You can’t back down now.’”

Novotny was playing so well, both in his long game and short game, that he needed only one ball to play the 36 holes over the course of two days.

“Off the tee, I think that’s where I gained a lot of strokes. I hit the same ball both days. Didn’t lose a ball,” he said. “I only missed a handful of fairways. Certainly helps a lot when you’re not in the trees and having to take penalty shots.”

The state champ was most appreciative of his fan base on the course, including his family and school administrators.

“Oh geez, that means the absolute world to me,” he said. “Knowing that I have people like that there gives me so much more confidence and more of an edge to play well.”

The moment it was announced he had won state, he received a big hug from his older brother Colton, a former BCR Golfer of the Year, who has been his role model, on and off the course.

Novotny was welcomed home with a caravan Saturday evening when he arrived in the Bureau Valley district. Saturday also happened to be the homecoming dance at Bureau Valley, and Novotny was greeted with a hero’s welcome outside the school by all the partygoers.

“I promised myself, ‘If you win this thing, you’ve got to crash homecoming,’” he said. “That little parade they hosted when I got back was unbelievable. That’s something I’ll never forget the rest of my life.”

Jack Gustafson certainly couldn’t have scripted a better way to retire as the Storm golf coach.

“It was an awesome weekend. Wyatt played some amazing golf over two days. He handled all the pressure like a pro,” he said. “Being it’s my last high school golf match as a coach, I couldn’t have dreamt any better ending.”

Hall sends 3 golfers to finals

Hall, which qualified as a team for the first time, had three golfers in Saturday’s finals. Junior Luke Bryant placed 56th with a plus-16 170, junior Noah Plym was 76th at 176 and senior Clayton Fusinetti was 77th at 177.

Bryant had the moment of the day on Friday with his first career hole-in-one on the 130-yard, No. 5 hole with his pitching wedge in front of nearly a hundred people. He finished with a round of 82.

Plym and Fusinetti were among six individual qualifiers at 85 to claim the final berth. Other scores for Hall on Friday were Jimmie Jablonski (86) and Johnni Escatel (86), who tied for 69th, and Joseph Perez (87), who placed 77th.

Hall finished 11th in the 12-team field with a round of 338. The Red Devils missed the cut by nine strokes.

“Not what we were hoping for. We definitely had a shot at being in the mix [to advance as a team], but it just wasn’t our day,” Hall coach Mason Kimberly said. “We were, however, the only school out of the 12 that had all six players shoot 87 or better. Certainly something to hang our hats on.”