Reyes, Rans, Bowditch break 80, help Pioneer make return trip to regional
- Val T.
- 5 hours ago
- 8 min read
Rochester’s Musselman, Heishman advance as individuals; Caston’s Chapman eliminated in playoff
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Micah Rans Ivan Reyes Owen Chapman
LOGANSPORT — The Pioneer boys golf team is no fluke.
One year after the Panthers advanced to the regional as a team for the first time in school history, they did it again Friday, shooting a 318 to finish third at the Logansport sectional at Dykeman Park Golf Course.
Logansport won the team title with a 303, and runner-up Twin Lakes also advanced by shooting a 316.
Pioneer will not be the only area representative. Rochester’s Ashton Musselman (74) and Isaac Heishman (77) advanced as individuals on non-advancing teams along with Rensselaer’s Beck Drone (77).
Musselman had already clinched the first of the three individual spots with Heishman, Drone and Caston’s Owen Chapman in a playoff for the final two spots. Heishman birdied the first playoff hole, Drone bogeyed it, and Chapman double-bogeyed it after driving way left.
Graham Taylor, Logansport’s No. 1 player, shot a 72 and beat teammate Evan Brandstatter in a playoff for medalist honors.
Ivan Reyes, the two-time Hoosier North medalist, led Pioneer with a 76. Micah Rans had a 77, Dane Bowditch had a 78, Brady Price had an 87, and Cole Franklin had a 96.
Rochester finished sixth out of 12 teams with a 348. Parker Brown’s 95, Brevin Nicholson’s 102 and Jack Reffett’s 104 rounded out the Zebra scorecard.
Caston’s 370 was good for ninth place. Reed Sommers added a 94, Gage Thomas had a 96, Drew Williams had a 103, and Brody Brewer had a 118.
Winamac took 10th with a 375. No. 4 player Justin Potthoff was the low Warrior with a 90. Logan Fredel had a 91, Louis Rugg III had a 92, Jayden Beckner had a 102, and Tyler Rainford had a 103.
Pioneer
The Panthers’ team score of 318 is believed to be a school record. They shot a 333 at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek in Rochester when they won their conference title.
Reyes birdied Nos. 1 and 8, both par-4s. He was one of only three players to birdie No. 1, and he was the only player to birdie No. 8, known for its sloped green.
Rans played the par-5s in 5-under-par, birdieing Nos. 7, 11 and 13 before eagling No. 18. Bowditch also had birdies on Nos. 7 and 13 in addition to his birdie on the par-4 fourth hole. Bowditch’s birdie on No. 4 was one of only two in the field on that hole.
Rochester
Musselman said the turning point for him on his round was around the seventh hole. Through six holes, he was 5-over-par. Over his final 12 holes, he had a birdie and 11 pars. He tied for third among the 59 players in the field.
“It was around the seventh hole,” Musselman said when asked to identify the turning point in his round. “After the first five, I was like 6-over. After my seventh hole, I went on a 12-hole par streak. I think something clicked in my brain. I think I really needed to lock in and shake the nerves off and play my game and have fun. This is my senior sectional, and I just wanted to have fun out there.”
Musselman shot a 45 on the back nine at last year’s sectional; this time, he shot 35. He said that the back nine has wider fairways, which allows him to hit his driver more often.
“If you’re hitting the ball well, it’s definitely an easier back nine than front nine,” Musselman said. “I hit eight of nine fairways and nine of nine greens. I was just playing really well.”
Rochester coach Mason Heyde said that Musselman and Heishman have gained familiarity with Dykeman Park in recent days. Dykeman Park is known for having six par-3s and almost no water hazards.
“Ashton and Isaac over this last week have just played a lot of golf here,” Heyde said. “We played a practice round, and I think they have been back every day playing, getting a true feel for these greens because honestly, we struggle with these greens. They don’t receive spin the same way ours do. Their downhill putts are fast. So they’ve put in a ton of work, and I’m super proud of them. Ashton, he was playing more or less bogey golf for the first five or six holes, and then the switch flipped.”
Heishman had to make a 10-foot putt on No. 18 for bogey to get his 77.
“I knew on hole 16 that a 77 was in the clubhouse,” Heyde said. “And I knew where he was at. I didn’t mention that to him. I just let him keep playing. He hadn’t had a bogey for awhile. He got up on 17 and missed the green and had a tough chip there and left it pretty short and two-putted that for a bogey. So then I’m like, ‘You still got it by one.’ We get on 18, he hits a good tee shot. He’s been hitting that 2-iron. So he was a lot further out than the other two (Frontier’s Brady Greer and Rensselaer’s Drone), but sprayed one right, and it was about six inches too far in the hazard to where he just couldn’t play it, so we had to take a drop there. So he had that bogey putt on 18 for that 77 that I knew was probably the number, and he just (put it) dead center of the cup, and when he was coming off, I told him that he had no clue how big that putt actually was.”
Said Heishman of the importance of his putt on No. 18: “Looking back, yes, but at the time, I had no idea because in years past, 78 makes it out. So I was just thinking over the putt, I want to make it, but I don’t really need to make it. After Mason told me that, my heart just kinda sunk. I’m like, wow, that putt meant a lot, but I didn’t know that at the time.”
Heishman parred No. 1 in regulation play. In the playoff, he used a 2-iron off the tee and drove it down the middle. He said he needed “something straight” off the tee more than he needed distance. Chapman and Drone both hit longer drives, but both drove to the left and in the rough.
Heishman then used a 9-iron for his approach shot, which he got within 18 inches for birdie.
“So my second shot, I had 140 (yards) in,” Heishman said. “And most of these greens, you can land it short and run it, but this one, you have to fly it, so I knew I could fly it 140, and then I stuck it to like a foot-and-a-half.”
Heyde said Heishman was “excited” when he heard he was going to be in a playoff.
“He said ‘I love playing that under pressure,’” Heyde said. “We went out to the range and hit a few more balls while the other teams were coming in, just to keep him loose, drink some water, have a snack, just trying to keep his body fueled up for that. We got on the tee. The other two hit first. They were not in the best spots, but they were a lot further up than he was going to be because he was hitting that 2-iron. But he laced it down the middle. After that shot on the walk-up, he did say, ‘That was nerve-wracking.’ That one got to him, but he handled it so well, and then he just flushed that iron in… for a tap-in birdie.”
Musselman, Brown and Reffett are the three graduating players. Heyde believes there are freshmen who will look to play varsity next year.
“This past week, I had the eighth-graders that are coming up to freshmen next year, I had them playing with us,” Heyde said. “I haven’t had many freshmen in my stint. So I see a lot of promise with those guys. They work hard. I see them out on the course, so I’m hoping to gain some depth.”
Caston
Chapman birdied Nos. 7 and 13, both par-5s. He never had a score worse than a bogey on any hole.
Chapman finished second among individuals behind Reyes at the Hoosier North tournament to make the all-conference team.
His sectional round was also impressive, according to coach Jeremy Rentschler.
“Phenomenal for him,” Rentschler said of Chapman’s round. “He’s only a second-year player. For any player to come out and shoot under 80 as a sophomore and having only two years under your belt, it’s amazing. It speaks to the hard work that he’s put in in the summer. I couldn’t be more pleased with him. That’s a lot of pressure, and he delivered today for our team. It’s one of our best team scores of the year. We couldn’t have done it without him.”
Rentschler said that Chapman, a sophomore, just started playing less than two years ago, but he has already praised his work ethic. He shot an 89 at last year’s sectional when he was Caston’s No. 3 player.
“He’s just a freak of nature,” Rentschler said. “Owen is a kid that joined the team and had good wing mechanics from the get-go. We’ve never really had to coach him a lot. He’s the guy swinging the club. He’s the guy putting the work in here. He’s probably out here five days a week. He’s got an extremely bright future. Despite the loss in the playoff, he will be at the top of this podium by the time he’s a senior. So we expect him to just continue to get better.”
Winamac
Potthoff, a senior, is Winamac’s No. 4 player, but he was playing in his first sectional. His round included a birdie on the par-5 11th hole.
Fredel had birdies on the par-3 12th hole and the par-4 15th hole. The 12th is known for its plateaued green, and Fredel is one of just three players in the field to birdie it. He was also one of just four players to birdie No. 15.
But he also had back-to-back triple bogeys on the first two holes and a 10 on the par-5 13th.
The regional
The regional is at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte at 9 a.m. Eastern Thursday. Lake Central is the host school.
Logansport sectional
at Dykeman Park Golf Course Friday (par 70)
Logansport 303, Twin Lakes 316, Pioneer 318, Rensselaer 322, North Newton 347, Rochester 348, Tri-County 356, Frontier 360, Caston 370, Winamac 375, West Central 404, South Newton 503
LOGANSPORT (303): Taylor 72, Brandstatter 72, Rozzi 78, Baldwin 81, (Lange 83)
TWIN LAKES (316): Kaufmann 74, Dellinger 78, Whitaker 80, Roth 84, (Mann 87)
PIONEER (318): Ivan Reyes (36-40) 76, Micah Rans (40-37) 77, Dane Bowditch (36-42) 78, Brady Price (42-45) 87, (Cole Franklin (45-51) 96)
RENSSELAER (322): B. Drone 77, C. Drone 78, Knoth 78, Geleott 89, (M. Drone 90)
NORTH NEWTON (347): Stalewski 84, LaCosse 86, Johnson 87, DeYoung 90, (Mathis 101)
ROCHESTER (348): Ashton Musselman (39-35) 74, Isaac Heishman (38-39) 77, Parker Brown (45-50) 95, Brevin Nicholson (50-52) 102, (Jack Reffett (50-54) 104)
TRI-COUNTY (356): Aldez 81, Northrup 90, Orns 90, Baer 95, (Schieler 97)
FRONTIER (360): Greer 80, Pekny 83, Whitaker 98, Alfano 99, (Covert 103)
CASTON (370): Owen Chapman (37-40) 77, Reed Sommers (46-48) 94, Gage Thomas (47-49) 96, Drew Williams (51-52) 103, (Brody Brewer (57-61) 118)
WINAMAC (375): Justin Potthoff (47-43) 90, Logan Fredel (46-45) 91, Louis Rugg III (46-46) 92, Jayden Beckner (49-53) 102, (Tyler Rainford (51-52) 103)
WEST CENTRAL (404): N. Peter 98, G. Peter 98, Wilson 102, Lynch 106, (Hoeferlin 109)
SOUTH NEWTON (503): Drey 105, Kollman 130, Sanchez 132, Reitsman 136
Individuals advancing from non-advancing teams: 1. Ashton Musselman (Rochester) 74, 2. Isaac Heishman (Rochester) – 77, 3. Beck Drone (Rensselaer) – 77
Medalist: Graham Taylor (Logansport) – 72
