Pioneer shoots 337, but season ends with 11th at regional

Rochester’s Heishman shoots 79, Musselman 87 in last round of season

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Pioneer junior Ivan Reyes studies a putt on the ninth hole at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte during Thursday’s regional. Reyes shot a team-low 79. Pioneer finished in 11th place with a 337 and did not advance.

DEMOTTE — The Pioneer boys golf team improved their score from the 2025 regional, and they beat rival Logansport, but it was not enough to continue their season Thursday.

Meanwhile, the two Rochester individuals were also eliminated.

Trinity Academy won the Lake Central regional at Sandy Pines Golf Club with a 299, and Elkhart (310) and South Bend St. Joe (316) also advanced to the IHSAA state finals. South Bend St. Joe edged out Valparaiso on the fifth player’s score tiebreaker for the final state spot.

Pioneer shot a 337 and finished 11th in the 15-team field.

Ivan Reyes shot a 79 to lead Pioneer. Micah Rans had an 81, Brady Price had an 88, Dane Bowditch had an 89, and Cole Franklin had a 131.

The Panthers improved from 13th place and shaved 31 strokes off their score from last year’s regional, when they appeared in the regional as a team for the first time.

Pioneer also finished four strokes ahead of Loganport. Logansport won the sectional on their home course at Dykeman Park Golf Course Friday and finished 15 strokes ahead of third-place Pioneer. They also finished 17 strokes ahead of Pioneer at last year’s regional.

Meanwhile, Rochester’s Isaac Heishman shot a 79 and Ashton Musselman shot an 87.

Kankakee Valley’s Luke Zander (74), Chesterton’s Jake Bobin (74) and Valparaiso’s Colin Kaleth (75) had the three lowest scores among individuals on non-advancing teams, and they also advanced to state. Kaleth beat Twin Lakes’ Jack Kaufmann in a playoff for the final spot.

The Kaleth-Kaufmann playoff occurred just as heavy rains started to pelt the course. Otherwise, players were able to complete their rounds in overcast, humid conditions with temperatures in the low-to-mid 80s.

Trinity Academy’s Nathan Palmer was the medalist with a 68.

Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel will host the 36-hole state finals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Pioneer

The Panthers had four birdies as a team – two from Reyes and one each from Rans and Price. 

Rans birdied No. 7, a massive par-5 which at 605 yards was the longest hole on the course.

Starting on the back nine, Reyes birdied the par-3 13th hole. His most impressive accomplishment might have been a birdie on the difficult par-4 sixth hole, a dogleg right in which a player must keep their tee shot to the left of a stream that runs the entire right side of the fairway before hitting their approach over the stream and another reservoir in front of the green.

Reyes put his approach within two feet to set up a short birdie putt.

Overall, he improved his score from last year’s regional by 10 strokes.

Still, Reyes said he had trouble reading the greens.

“Overall, I felt pretty good,” he said. “I tried to come in and break 80, and I did what I wanted to. … I had four three-putts, and all of them were four feet away, and I just missed them. I couldn’t read them. … They were the quickest greens I’ve ever played. They roll them, so it’s pretty hard to read.”

Coach Kyle Rans noted the accomplishments of the team after the round. He told the seniors to enjoy the round.

“We did better this year,” coach Kyle Rans said. “We shot better scores than we did last year. Unfortunately, we didn’t get anybody to advance, but a 337, we’re pretty happy with that score at this course. The boys are also excited we got by Logansport too. That’s always a plus when you’re a rival county school.”

Rochester

Coach Mason Heyde followed Heishman throughout the round while assistant coach Chad Scobie walked with Musselman.

Heishman played a nine-hole stretch from No. 9 to No. 17 in 1-under par. That included a birdie on the par-5 15th hole and eight pars.

Heishman cited better putting for his improvement. He said the greens did not resemble the greens he played on during a practice round Wednesday.

“Partially, I was just two-putting,” Heishman said. “On the front nine, I three-putted a lot. It was just getting used to these greens. Because they were different yesterday. They were a lot slower this morning, and they didn’t break as much. That just took me a second to kinda grasp, and then on the back nine, I turned it up.”

Coach Mason Heyde said Heishman is evidence that length off the tee is not required to be a successful golfer.

“He’s not super long, but especially today, his misses don’t get him in a lot of trouble,” Heyde said. “His misses aren’t real big misses, and that’s part of not having as much distance. I think he’s a little more controlled on his swing, not really swinging at it super hard, which just helps you keep the ball in play.”

Musselman started with a par but followed with a bogey or worse on eight of his next nine holes. He noted the tight fairways along with constant bunkers and water hazards.

“It’s a hard course,” Musselman said. “But I wish I would have done better – senior year, last match. It just wasn’t my day today.”

Musselman also played in the regional in 2023 and 2024 as part of the Zebra team. Heyde is in his fourth year as coach, so his evolution as a coach has coincided with Musselman’s as a player.

“It’s awesome watching him progress,” Heyde said. “When I started coaching, he had the potential, but he wasn’t there yet. And mentally, he definitely was not there yet. But today, even though he was not playing anywhere near where he can and where he wanted to, his mental game was there. He didn’t let some bad holes just make him explode and turn it into a really bad round. So I’m super proud of just his progress mentally, and his game has come such a long way. He’s played some great rounds.”

Lake Central regional

at Sandy Pines Golf Club, DeMotte, Thursday (par 72)

Trinity Academy 299, Elkhart 310, South Bend St. Joe 316, Valparaiso 316, Kankakee Valley 318, Crown Point 319, Twin Lakes 321, Lake Central 327, Chesterton 331, Boone Grove 332, PIONEER 337, Logansport 341, South Central (Union Mills) 348, LaPorte 349, Marquette Catholic 352

TRINITY ACADEMY (299): N. Palmer 68, G. Palmer 74, D. Sweikar 78, Bernardy 79, (C. Sweikar 90)

ELKHART (310): Ben Divido 72, Miller 75, Brenden Divido 76, Molyneaux 87, (Windy 90)

SOUTH BEND ST. JOE (316): Guyton 74, Matthys 79, Kloska 81, Bowles 82, (Germann 84)

VALPARAISO (316): Kaleth 75, Carlson 77, O’Brien 80, Alcorn 84, (Shepherd 86)

KANKAKEE VALLEY (318): Zander 74, Van Loon 78, Armstrong 82, Jonkman 84, (Lubotina 95)

CROWN POINT (319): Graddy 77, Head 79, Prendergast 81, Massucci 82, (Babcock 88)

TWIN LAKES (321): Kaufmann 75, Dellinger 78, Roth 82, Whitaker 86, (Mann 94)

LAKE CENTRAL (327): Barkauskas 77, Sullivan 78, Carroll 84, Kroncke 88, (Boufis 88)

CHESTERTON (331): Bobin 74, Mulcahy 83, Racette 84, Pacilio 90, (Henley 99)

BOONE GROVE (332): W. Marzurkiewicz 81, Humpal 82, J. Marzurkiewicz 83, Coover 86, (Catherman 93)

PIONEER (337): IVAN REYES (39-40) 79, MICAH RANS (39-42) 81, BRADY PRICE (41-47) 88, DANE BOWDITCH (45-44) 89, (COLE FRANKLIN (65-66) 131)

LOGANSPORT (341): Taylor 77, Rozzi 87, Baldwin 88, Brandstatter 89, (Lange 94)

SOUTH CENTRAL (UNION MILLS) (348): Haschel 79, Bennett 88, Filo 89, Schroeder 92, (Falls 100)

MARQUETTE CATHOLIC (352): Olesker 81, Keehn 89, Hassett 90, Moyer 92, (Pawlak 109)

Players competing as individuals: Petty (Penn) 76, Bishop (Mishawaka Marian) 77, Drone (Rensselaer) 78, ISAAC HEISHMAN (ROCHESTER) (43-36) 79, O’Hara (Penn) 82, Vrieland (DeMotte Christian) 82, Gillen (Wheeler) 83, Green (Michigan City) 85, Hunt (Munster) 86, Uy (Hammond Noll) 86, ASHTON MUSSELMAN (ROCHESTER) (44-43) 87, Siebert (Illiana Christian) 87, Fleck (John Glenn) 93, Krassow (New Prairie) 97, Skaltsas (Hobart) 98

Top three individuals on non-advancing teams: t-1. Jake Bobin (Chesterton) 74, t-1. Luke Zander (Kankakee Valley) 74, 3. Colin Kaleth (Valparaiso) 75

(NOTE: Kaleth defeated Kaufmann (Twin Lakes) in a playoff for the final spot.)

Medalist: Nathan Palmer (Trinity Academy) 68