Roundup: St. Bede’s Jake Delaney places 2nd at Riverdale Regional

St. Bede's Jake Delaney blasts out of the sand during the class A boys golf regionals Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2021 at Byron Hills in Port Byron.

St. Bede senior Jake Delaney has been focusing on his iron play recently.

It paid off Wednesday.

Delaney shot a 76 to finish runner-up at the Class 1A Riverdale Regional at Byron Hills Golf Course in Port Byron.

“I was striking the ball pretty good,” Delaney said. “Recently, irons haven’t been my biggest strength, but I’ve been working on it and it was a lot better today. I was launching it a lot higher and holding greens. I got the pace of the greens pretty well, had good speed and just feel real fortunate to pull out a good round in such a big tournament.”

Riverdale’s James Moorhusen cruised to the individual title with a 69, leading the Rams to the team title with a 310.

Newman (332) and Fulton (342) finished second and third to also earn team sectional berths, while Hall (346) placed fourth, St. Bede (347) was fifth, the Amboy co-op (348) was sixth, Bureau Valley (362) was ninth, Putnam County (378) was 11th and Earlville (431) was 12th.

Delaney’s performance earned him a trip to the Byron Sectional on Monday.

Teammate Brandon Pillion advanced with an 85 as did Hall cousins Landen Plym (77) and Grant Plym (85) and the Amboy co-op’s Hayden Wittenauer (82) and Wes Wilson (84).

“Basically everything was going well for me today,” Pillion said. “My woods, driver, irons were all working. I was just struggling with the speed of the greens today. But it was definitely my best day for ball-striking. “Knowing that I didn’t play my best round and was still able to get in and advance, it definitely puts a lot of confidence back into my brain. I think Jake and I should be able to play well at sectional.”

Landen Plym finished third.

“I’m happy with it,” Plym said. “I’m glad I advanced. It’s kind of sad the team didn’t advance, but I’m glad I did.

“I drove it well, my irons were good, but my putting wasn’t good. Basically, everything was working except the short game.” Landen Plym said “it was cool, for sure,” to advance to then sectional along with his cousin, Grant Plym.

“I figured out my driver, so that was nice,” Grant Plym said. “I had a really good front nine with a 38, my lowest nine of the season. I kind of choked on the back nine, but it ended up fine.”

Putnam County’s Chris Uzella carded an 86 to finish one stroke shy of qualifying for the sectional, while Landen Birdsley led Bureau Valley with an 87.

At Kewanee

Princeton junior Jaden Eggers shot an 88 on Wednesday at the Class 2A Kewanee Regional to earn the ninth of 10 individual berths to the Metamora Sectional.

“I got another chance. That’s all I need,” Eggers said. “I want to place high at sectionals. I think that’s a good goal. Not try to do too much. I still have next year to play.”

At Morris

Fieldcrest junior Lucas Bernardi carded an 83 on Wednesday to place 10th at the Class 1A Seneca Regional to advance to the Beecher Sectional.

At Galva

Henry-Senachwine junior Ayden Malavolti shot a team-best 94 on Wednesday at the Class 1A Galva Regional but did not advance to the sectional.

COED CROSS COUNTRY

At Amboy

Amboy co-op’s Brock Loftus ran a 15:53 on Wednesday to win a four-team meet by 1:23 at Shady Oaks Country Club.

Teammate Ian Eller placed second in 17:16 as the Clippers won with 18 points followed by Polo (56) and Eastland (63).

Gage Szymovicz placed 19th in 22:44 to lead Hall, which did not have enough runners for a team score.

In the girls race, which did not have team scores, Amboy’s Lauren Althaus won in 21:09. Hall’s Yovanna Reyes was 12th in 32:02.