IESA Headlines

2015 IESA Golf State Tournament Tees Off Saturday

Students from Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) member schools will compete in the sixth annual Golf State Tournament at Kellogg Golf Course in Peoria on Saturday, September 19. There will be over 140 students who will make the trip to compete in the event this weekend. A complete list of the individuals, participating schools, and tee times is located on the IESA website at the following link:

http://www.iesa.org/activities/go/times_State.asp?Year=2015

This will mark the third year that the Kellogg Golf Course in Peoria has hosted the State Tournament. The state site contains two different courses, the Executive 9 and the Kellogg Course, both of which will be in use Saturday. The championship 18 hole Kellogg Course features bent grass fairways and greens. The Peoria Park District assists in the administration of the tournament. In conjunction with the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Park District sponsors a reception for the golfers on Friday from 6-8 p.m. at the Learning Center across the street from Kellogg Golf Course. Schools need to register for the event and they will need to RSVP to Trianna Stark (tsark@peoria.org ) by 12 noon on Thursday if they want to attend the Friday reception. Pizza is available to the golfers as well as use of the driving range.

The sectional qualifying tournaments were held last Saturday at 6 different sites across the state. This is the second year that the boys and the first year that the girls advanced to the finals as a result of sectional tournaments. The state final will consist of a girls and boys division. All participants will compete in one 18 hole round of golf. The girls will play the Executive 9 and nine holes of the championship 18. The boys will play the championship 18.

The first tee time on Saturday is scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m. for the girls and 9:00 a.m. for the boys.

The boys competed in their sectional qualifier this past Saturday at three different sites. Sectional A was held at Ingersoll Golf Course in Rockford; Sectional B was held at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington, and Sectional C was held at Indian Springs Golf Course in Filmore. The top 24 golfers at each sectional site have advanced to this weekend's state tournament. Two golfers shot 77 at Ingersoll---Thomas Bumann, a 7th grader from Woodhull Alwood and Sean Markham, an 8th grader from Barrington Prairie. Baumann finished 10th in the 2014 tournament while Markham placed 15th. Medalist honors for Sectional B were captured by Weston Walker, a 5th grader from Peoria Christian. The highlight of the sectional was a hole-in-one by Griffin Brunner of Pontiac St. Mary's. The 8th grader aced the last hole of the day when his 8 iron on the 130 yard hold landed in the bottom of the cup. A pair of 8th graders, both from Hillsboro, scorched sectional C held at Indian Springs. Alex White fired a 68 to take home medalist honors while Alex Eickhoff shot a 70 to place second in the sectional. The next closest golfer to Eickhoff shot an 81. Ironically, Eickhoff and White finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the 2014 IESA finals. Both shot two over par 74 last year over the layout at Kellogg but Eickhoff won the playoff to determine the champion. Both will be looking to take home 1st place honors this year. Other golfers who finished in the top 25 last year who will be returning to Peoria are Reid Taylor of Springfield Blessed Sacrament; Connor Vicary of Morton; Jack Holmstrom of Rockford Marshall; and Ian Roach of McNabb Putnam County.

As mentioned previously, this was the first year that the girls had to qualify for the state finals through sectional competition. Three courses served as sectional hosts last Saturday---Sectional A was held at Lake of the Woods in Mahomet; Sectional B was held at Madison Golf Course in Peoria; and Sectional C was played at Lincoln Greens Golf Course in Springfield. Caroline Smith, an 8th grader from Barrington Prairie fired an 82 to capture first place in Sectional A. Smith finished 2nd in the 2014 finals and is hoping to move up one place this year to capture medalist honors this year. Katelyn Sayyalinh, an 8th grader from Rockford Eisenhower beat her next closest competitor by 13 shots en route to her 1st place finish at Madison Golf Course. Sayyalinh fired a 75 last Saturday and will be looking to improve on her 10th place finish from last year. Sectional C had a close finish for 1st place honors as Faith Davis, a 7th grader from Riverton, beat Kira Wolf from Mattoon by one shot, 80-81, to take home medalist honors. Davis placed 12th last year. Other golfers who finished in the top 25 last year who will be returning to Peoria are Alaina Bowie from Champaign Holy Cross; Haylee Hornback from Peoria Norwood; and Ali Ciucci from McNabb Putnam County.

The awards ceremony will take place after the last golfers have completed their round. Individual awards will be given during the ceremony, with the top 10 finishers in each division receiving medals.

Complete tournament information can be found at www.iesa.org. Click on the Golf link at the top of the IESA Web site home page. Also, the IESA Fanzone available on the IESA home page can provide additional information.

There will be no admission or parking charge at the tournament.

Should weather become a factor, the IESA website will contain up-to-date information regarding the completion of the tournament. Go to www.iesa.org for any changes to the schedule and for the final results which will be posted at the conclusion of the awards ceremony.

For more information, please contact the Golf Administrator Julie Cochran at 309-829-0114 or julie@iesa.org.