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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The Rochester girls golf team was moved from the Warsaw sectional to the Twin Lakes sectional, and Culver was moved from the LaPorte sectional to the Warsaw sectional, according to changes made in sectional alignment at the June 23 IHSAA Executive Committee meeting.
In addition to Rochester, the Twin Lakes sectional will include Pioneer, DeMotte Christian (formerly Covenant Christian), Kankakee Valley, Logansport, North Newton, Rensselaer, South Newton, Tri-County, Twin Lakes and Winamac.
The sectional will be held at Tippecanoe Country Club in Monticello. It has been typically held on the third Monday in September.
Logansport won last year’s sectional with a 364. Winamac (387) and Kankakee Valley (389) also advanced to the regional.
Rochester was moved from the Logansport sectional to the Warsaw sectional in 2007. They advanced to the IHSAA state finals in 2012 and 2013 after starting their tournament runs at Warsaw.
The move means that Rochester will not be in a sectional with another Three Rivers Conference team and that a Rochester golfer would not compete with a Tippecanoe Valley or Culver golfer until the state finals.
In addition to Culver, the Warsaw sectional will include Tippecanoe Valley, Bremen, Columbia City, Culver Academy, Manchester, NorthWood, Plymouth, Warsaw, Wawasee and Whitko.
The sectional will be held at Stonehenge Golf Club in Winona Lake. It is typically held on the third Saturday in September.
NorthWood won last year’s sectional with a 325. Plymouth (354) and Warsaw (359) also advanced to the regional. NorthWood has won four consecutive sectional titles and also made the state finals four straight years. They placed 13th at last year’s state finals.
The IHSAA also announced that the additional regional will be placed at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte. Lake Central will be the host school.
The Twin Lakes sectional will be among those that feed into the Sandy Pines regional.
The IHSAA announced this spring that it was adding a sixth regional and that 18 teams will make the state finals instead of 15. Only the top two individuals on non-advancing teams will make state. Previously, the top five players on non-advancing teams made state.
The Warsaw sectional will continue to feed into the East Noble regional at Noble Hawk Golf Links in Kendallville.
