Pioneer shoots 368, finishes 13th at historic regional round

Rochester’s Renie shoots 81 in final prep round

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Davis Renie Micah Rans Ivan Reyes

DEMOTTE — Pioneer junior Micah Rans has had a busy week.

The starting quarterback on the Panther football team, he had football weights. He had a summer basketball scrimmage at Caston Monday. He also has a job.

And then there was golf, golf and more golf.

Rans shot a team-low 83 to lead the Panthers, but they shot a 368 and finished 13th out of 15 teams in the school’s first ever regional round, ending their season.

Ivan Reyes added an 89, Brady Price had a 92, Dane Bowditch had a 104, and Tayt Smith shot a 118.

South Bend St. Joe won the regional with a 313, and Elkhart (313) and host Lake Central (314) also advanced to state. South Bend St. Joe, which finished third at its sectional Monday, edged out Elkhart on the fifth player’s score tiebreaker for the regional title.

Andrean’s Zach Trtan (74), Twin Lakes’ Jack Kaufmann (75) and Trinity Greenlawn’s Jackson Cressy (76) also advanced as the three lowest individual scores on non-advancing teams. Cressy beat out teammate Nathan Palmer in a sudden death playoff for the final individual state spot.

Benjamin Divido, a freshman from Elkhart, won medalist honors with a 2-under-par 70.

Rochester’s Davis Renie shot an 81 and did not advance, ending his prep career. Renie’s round included a chip-in birdie on the par-3 third hole and a slam-dunk birdie on the slick par-4 16th green.

Renie was 5-over-par through 16 holes before finishing with back-to-back double bogeys on Nos. 17-18.

While Renie double-bogeyed the 17th, Rans’ only birdie of the day – and the only birdie from any Pioneer player – came on No. 17, known for its dangerous island green that gulps up any errant tee shot that is too long or to the right.

He said his goal going into the round was shooting 85 or better.

“The par-3 over water, I hit a nice cut in there,” Rans said. “I stuck it to 10 feet or so, and I made a putt. I had a few other good looks, but that was my only birdie today.”

Rans said he has played golf “as long as I could remember.” He called the team accomplishment “really special” and noted how special it was for Smith, the team’s lone senior.

He said the team stayed in a “stay-and-play” Wednesday night and watched the Indiana Pacers NBA Finals game against the Oklahoma City Thunder as a team.

“One day I had three sports,” Rans said. “I had football weights in the morning – weights and conditioning. Then I go to work for my dad at Rans Funeral Home. And then that one day… we had scrimmage at Caston, so that was only one day we had basketball. But it’s looking like football in the mornings and then work and then I’m golfing all evening trying to prepare for today. … I love it. I wish I could do it every day honestly. I probably will keep doing it honestly.”

Pioneer teed off from the back nine beginning at 9:50 a.m. Eastern, and their following included immediate and extended family members; junior Mia McKaig, who made the girls golf state finals from the regional at Sandy Pines back in September; and other students and family members.

Pioneer’s team score was 38 strokes higher than it was six days ago at the Logansport sectional at Dykeman Park Golf Course.

Reyes shot a 94 and Rans a 98 at the 2024 regional at Sandy Pines when they competed as individuals.

“I didn’t really have a goal,” Pioneer coach Kyle Rans said. “I was hoping that Ivan and Micah could go low in the 80s, and they did that. I actually told them really just to think about what they shot last year which was in the mid-90s and try to do better than that, and they both did, so I’m happy. I knew we obviously wouldn’t get out as a team. I did tell them if any of them went in the mid-to-high 70s, they might have a chance, but it didn’t happen today. We’ve got next year, so hopefully, we can build on what we did.”

Coach Rans was asked about the recognition that the team has received during its run to regional. He said the team had high goals coming into the season. And with only Smith graduating, there is optimism for next year.

“Positive,” coach Rans said. “We knew we were moving in a direction. We wanted to win conference, and we did that, and we feel like we’re moving into next year. Cole Franklin is going to be right there at that five, and with him and Tayt, we don’t lose much, so I feel like we’re going to be better than we are this year.”

As for Renie, older brother Reece, the 2021 sectional medalist, was in his gallery along with parents, grandparents and friends.

“I feel like I deserved better because I had three doubles, and I doubled the last two holes, and I think the way I hit the ball, it could have easily been low-70s,” Renie said. “I just did not putt great.”

Renie played holes 9-16 in even-par.

“He played really well,” Rochester coach Mason Heyde said. “We had a few rough holes early on, but he put those behind him, rebounded well… and just got in a little bit of some bad areas on 17 and 18, but he played well, he didn’t let bad shots really get to him, and I think that helped.”

Also, coach Mason Heyde and assistant coach Chad Scobie were able to focus just on Renie. Renie later said that Heyde essentially did everything a caddie does with the exception of carrying his bag. His advice came in handy on No. 18, when his approach iron shot on the par-4 got plugged in a greenside bunker.

Heyde said that is not a shot Renie has practiced, so he talked him through it, and Renie was able to muscle it onto the fringe.

“It’s a lot different, but I had a great time walking with him and talking through every shot, just making sure his head stayed in it after a bad shot,” Heyde said. “18, that bunker shot, it was a buried ball, and he had never hit one of those before. The way our sand is, and the way most courses’ sand is, they don’t really plug in the bunker like that, so I had to talk through how to hit a shot that he’s never hit before. You play it completely differently, and he hit it really well. It just didn’t trickle quite on the green, and he looked at me and said, ‘I didn’t think I even got it out of the bunker.’ But the way you play those shots, you hit way behind the ball, let the sand blast it out, and he hit it really well. It just didn’t quite trickle on, but he still gave it a run.”

Renie just started playing golf when he was a sophomore. He said he played two practice rounds at Sandy Pines to get ready, taking only Tuesday off. He also switched to a new putter after the sectional.

He said that while his high school career is over that he plans on taking advantage of more opportunities to play competitive golf.

“I wouldn’t say no because the IGA (Indiana Golf Association) does stuff until you’re 19, so I could still do stuff this summer and even all of next year when I’m 19,” Renie said. “So I definitely would not say no. I’ll be golfing a lot – all the time, I’d imagine. And now when I’m playing with guys, it doesn’t really matter, but now I can play for money, so that’s cool.

“I will miss golfing for Rochester a lot. Right now, it doesn’t seem like I would miss it a lot, but in the winter – like November and December – just how much I missed it and wanted to get back out and play. And playing golf in general. (Teammate) Brady (Morgan) and I would always talk about how excited we were for March. And the season obviously is … so much shorter than basically every other season, so I’ll definitely miss it.”

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

South Bend St. Joe 313, Elkhart 313, Lake Central 314, Trinity Greenlawn 315, Munster 320, Andrean 323, Twin Lakes 326, Valparaiso 343, Chesterton 344, Boone Grove 346, LaPorte 351, Logansport 351, Pioneer 368, Marquette Catholic 370, Morgan Township 383

SOUTH BEND ST. JOE (313): Matthys 71, Guyton 79, Hirschler 81, Rasler 82, (Basney 82)

ELKHART (313): Divido 70, Webb 75, Cochrane 81, B. Miller 87, (C. Miller 89)

LAKE CENTRAL (314): Morton 74, Howell 79, Carroll 79, Kroncke 82, (Tuley 83)

TRINITY GREENLAWN (315): Cressy 76, Palmer 76, Sweikar 79, Bernardy 84, (Abbott 90)

MUNSTER (320): Eplawy 77, Mulcahy 79, Landmesser 81, Sudac 83, (Hunt 89)

ANDREAN (323): Trtan 74, Quinn 79, Cusick 83, Alvarez 87, (O’Brien 98)

TWIN LAKES (326): Kaufmann 75, Dellinger 79, Woodley 82, Roth 90, (Kyser 92)

VALPARAISO (343): Kaleth 80, Carlson 85, Nowarita 87, Acorn 91, (O’Brien 105)

CHESTERTON (344): Kasper 81, Brown 85, Bobin 86, Pacilio 92, (Stanley 105)

BOONE GROVE (346): Humpal 79, W. Mazurkiewicz 83, Stevens 90, J. Mazurkiewicz 94, (Coover 101)

LAPORTE (351): Albin 83, Cannon 86, Mrozinski 89, Penziol 93, (Sittig 102)

LOGANSPORT (351): Taylor 81, Rozzi 85, Brandstatter 89, Baldwin 96, (Lange 107)

PIONEER (368): MICAH RANS (40-43) 83, IVAN REYES (42-47) 89, BRADY PRICE (49-43) 92, DANE BOWDITCH (53-51) 104, (TAYT SMITH (63-55) 118)

MARQUETTE CATHOLIC (370): Olesker 87, Hassett 87, Keehn 94, Moyer 102, (Haverstock 111)

MORGAN TOWNSHIP (383): Holtz 89, Michaels 93, Drozd 95, Willingham 106, (Johnson 123)

Competing as individuals: Donze (Penn) 79, Pierson (Crown Point) 79, Drone (Rensselaer) 80, DAVIS RENIE (ROCHESTER) (41-40) 81, Hahn (Mishawaka Marian) 82, Greer (Frontier) 82, Prendergast (Crown Point) 84, Postma (Illiana Christian) 85, Cocquyt (Penn) 88, Wellman (Portage) 88, Swanson (Westville) 93, Gillen (Wheeler) 96, Sinka (New Prairie) 97, Fengya (Portage) 99, Singleton (Knox) 99

Top 3 individuals on non-advancing teams: 1. Zach Trtan (Andrean) – 74, 2. Jack Kaufmann (Twin Lakes) – 75, 3. Jackson Cressy (Trinity Greenlawn) – 76

(NOTE: Cressy defeated Nathan Palmer (Trinity Greenlawn) in a sudden death playoff for the final individual spot at state.)

Medalist: Benjamin Divido (Elkhart) – 70