Local teams, players advance to sectionals

Local teams from Rushville-Industry, Routt and Carrollton advanced at the Rushville Class 1A boys’ golf regional Tuesday, and local individuals from Pittsfield, Brown County, Beardstown and West Central also qualified for next Monday’s Pana Sectional.

Dustin Shea, of Routt, was the medalist at Rushville. He shot a 75 at the par-70 Scripps Park Golf Course. Shea and the rest of the Routt team advanced to next week’s sectional.

Shea’s round was his lowest of the season. Tuesday was the first time all year he earned medalist honors.

“It’s actually a great feeling right now,” said Shea, a junior. “There were a lot of good golfers that could have won today, so I feel real fortunate.”

Shea’s coach said he wasn’t surprised with the junior’s breakout round.

“He has potential to shoot a round like that, and has shot five or six good rounds like that during matches this year,” Routt coach Rich Smith said of Shea. “He has started coming on like that the last couple invitationals. He had maybe one bad swing the whole round.”

Rushville-Industry, the first-place finisher Tuesday, and Carrollton, the third-place team, both advanced as well. Rushville (325) beat Routt (326) by just one stroke.

“We did not have good front sides, so when all the guys turned, they all had their heads down and weren’t looking too good,” said Rushville coach Greg Reuschel, “but they all did good on the back.”

Rushville’s Andy Rice made a key birdie on hole No. 18 to help the Rockets finish first as a team.

“That could have been the shot that made the difference,” Reuschel said. “But when there’s 325 shots, they all could have made a difference.”

Local individuals Caleb Wombles (Pittsfield), Ethan Koch (Brown County), Cody White (Beardstown), Trevor Courson (Beardstown) and Nate Davis (West Central) also advanced Tuesday. Wombles finished tied for second among all individuals at the regional, and Koch was tied for third.

Members of the Rushville team included Jacob Roberts, Tyler Barr, Logan Woods, Nic Vaughn, Chad Johnson and Rice. Members of the Routt team were Justin Coop, Ryan Hufendick, Blake Davis, Jay Gross, Andrew Barber and Shea. Members of the Carrollton team included Ian Bain, Josh Krumwiede, Tom Isringhausen, Nolan Roberts, Jake Trost and Matt Parker.