With Gracie Piar in the middle of her three-day drive to college in California, the Marquette Blast-Off girls golf tournament would crown new champions Saturday.
O’Fallon’s Reagan Martin and Springfield SHG’s Molly Marriott shared medalist honors after both shot 4-over par 76 at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course. Piar won the Blast-Off last season with a tourney record 66, with Martin second at 70.
O’Fallon reclaimed the tourney title after finishing second, seven strokes behind Marquette Catholic’s 313 in 2021. The Panthers finished at 323, with SHG second at 332 in a 16-team field at Olin. Pekin (360), Quincy Notre Dame (372), Effingham (374) and Marquette (382) rounded out the top six.
O’Fallon, which has won the tourney in four of the past five seasons, got a fourth-place finish from Ava Pace at 79, with Shaylee Ficken shooting 83 and both Valerie Meinkoth and Caitlyn Chor shooting 85 to score in the top 16 for the Panthers.
The Father McGivney Griffins placed 10th at 414 and the Alton Redbirds finished 14th with a 432. Jersey, which got a 95 from Bria Tuttle, Civic Memorial and Roxana had entries in the tourney, but did not send the four golfers needed to compete as a team.
McGivney freshman Sarah Hyten was two strokes back of Martin and Marriott, placing third with a 78. Alton’s Addison Kenney tied for eighth at 83, with Marquette’s Ava Bartosiak tying for 14th at 85.
Joliet Invite – Edwardsville senior Nicole Johnson was co-medalist at 1-under par 70 and the Tigers claimed the team championship with a 310 at the 22nd annual Joliet Invitational at Wedgewood Golf Club in Plainfield.
Edwardsville was 11 shots better than runner-up Naperville Neuqua Valley (321), with Quincy (322), Hinsdale Central (331) and Minooka (336) rounding out the top five in a 19-team field.
Johnson and Lincoln-Way West’s Kaylee Dwyer both shot 70, with Quincy’s Sophia Gold third at 71. Edwardsville freshman Rachel Johnson, Nicole’s sister, tied for seventh at 75, with Ali Geminn’s 79 and Alayna Garman’s 86 also scoring for the Tigers.
BOYS GOLF
Quincy Invite – Alton’s Alex Siatos and Sam Ottwell both turned in top 10 rounds to lead the Redbirds’ to a ninth-place finish in the 19-team Quincy Invitational at Westview Golf Course.
Springfield SHG shot 393 to win the tourney that uses five scores from each team. O’Fallon was three strokes back at 396, with Springfield (397), Chatham Glenwood (403), Collinsville (410) and Belleville East (416) in the top six.
Alton finished at 419 with Siatos tying for fourth at 75 and Ottwell tying for eighth at 76. Cooper Hagen’s 82, Charlie Coy’s 89 and Alec Schmieder’s 97 completed the scoring for the Redbirds.
Edwardsville, which split squads and sent its top lineup further north to play in the Warren Invite in Gurnee, came in at 445 to finish 13th at Westview. Bryce Pryor shot 81 to lead the Tigers, who scored 87 from both Nathan Huddle and Kolton Wright, 93 from Cole Petersen and 97 from Luca Tausrico.
Springfield’s Peyton Woods shot a 2-under par 69 to win the tourney by four shots over Liberty’s Blake Arnold. Glenwood’s Drew Downen shot 74, with SHG’s Cal Johnson and Nick Calucchia and Springfield’s Jake Baldin joining Siatos at 75 and O’Fallon’s Hunter Ficken matching Ottwell’s 76.