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All-RTC4 boys golf: Pioneer’s steady Reyes is Player of Year

Val T.
3 hours ago
3 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

**RTC4 Boys Golfer of the Year Ivan Reyes**

Once again, our RTC Boys Golfer of the Year is from Pioneer.

But this time, it is a different player. Last year, it was Micah Rans. This year, it is Ivan Reyes.

A junior, Reyes is our pick after winning medalist honors and leading his Panthers to a Hoosier North title. He also shot a 76 at the Logansport sectional to lead his team to a third-place finish and a return trip to the regional.

This was an extremely tough call. One could argue that multiple players in our area had similar credentials to Reyes.

The round that really stood out happened at the start of the season, when Reyes shot a 73 at the Rochester Invitational. Reyes finished second among all individuals in a tough field. The only player to beat him was Chesterton’s Jake Bobin, and Bobin wound up making state.

Posting that round in mercurial April weather around these parts might have been the most impressive individual round by any player in the area.

Reyes is one of four players from Pioneer that we are recognizing. We also have two each from Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley and one each from Caston and North Miami.

It is not uncommon for us to recognize players from Rochester and Valley, but the growing programs at Caston and North Miami are a story. They are following in the wake of the surge in golf at Pioneer, which made the regional for the second time in a row after never having made it before.

Caston has a star in Owen Chapman, who just missed beating Reyes at conference and sectional. Chapman has been playing golf for less than two years. Kids want to play for coach Jeremy Rentschler.

North Miami shot a 356 at conference at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek and a 374 at the sectional at Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru. These are scores that are not typically associated with North Miami. Coach Hayden Sturch will graduate nine seniors, but 17 kids came out for golf at North Miami. He is building something.

Reyes headlines our All-RTC4 boys golf team. We thank area coaches for sending us their scores and sharing their thoughts and insights on their teams. Having said that, this list is ours and ours alone, and we take full responsibility for it.

We place special emphasis on the 18-hole tournaments over the nine-hole weekday events. We also emphasize conference and postseason performance over events early in the season, but when it is close, we try to look at everything.

All-RTC

First team

Ivan Reyes (Pioneer) (Player of the Year) – Reyes is both bold and smart in his style of play, and he makes the tough, short putts that separate the best golfers from the pretty good.
Wes Parker (Tippecanoe Valley) – Parker is the best player in the young history of the Indiana Northern State Conference, and he is also honorable mention Academic All-State.
Isaac Heishman (Rochester) – Heishman, a junior, gets better every year. He was All-Three Rivers Conference and a regional qualifier, and at the regional, he was nails in shooting a 79 at a tough Sandy Pines Golf Club.
Ashton Musselman (Rochester) – Musselman, a senior, is another development success story under coach Mason Heyde’s watch, working from No. 5 as a freshman to shooting a 74 at the sectional as a senior. He made the All-TRC team twice in his career.
Owen Chapman (Caston) – Chapman, a sophomore, has everything you would hope to see in a golfer except experience and course and knowledge. That will come in time. He was second behind Reyes for conference medalist, and only a loss in a playoff kept him from advancing to the regional.