The Hubs varsity golf team hasn’t enjoyed much team success in recent years, but after earning a runner-up tournament finish and sending two players to state meets this fall, the Rochelle program has hit a long-awaited upswing.
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ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity golf team hasn’t enjoyed much team success in recent years, but after earning a runner-up tournament finish and sending two players to state meets this fall, the Rochelle program has hit a long-awaited upswing.
Under the leadership of head coach Glen Mehrings and assistant coach David Cartwright, the Hubs finished the 2016 season with a 5-8-1 record, winning matches over Dixon, Oregon, North Boone, Amboy and conference rival LaSalle-Peru. Rochelle placed fourth out of eight schools at the Rock Falls Rocket Invitational on Sept. 2, and the Hubs earned their first team trophy of the year after taking second out of nine schools at the Princeton Invitational on Sept. 16.
Rochelle moved up one spot in the conference, placing ninth at the Northern Illinois Big 12 Meet on Sept. 27 after finishing last in 2016. Freshman Megan Thiravong medaled in third place out of 39 girls at the NIB-12 Girls Meet in Rochelle, while senior Noah Griffith shot the second-best score at the NIB-12 Boys Meet in LaSalle.
Thiravong took her impressive freshman season one step further at the IHSA Class 1A Regional in Oregon, winning the competition with an 86 before shooting 78 to finish second in the IHSA Class 1A Sectional in Byron to become the first Rochelle girl in 24 years to reach the state tournament. Both Griffith (89) and senior Garrett Glosser (87) advanced out of the IHSA Class 2A Regional in Mendota, and Griffith’s 84 at the IHSA Class 2A Sectional in Grayslake allowed him to become the first Rochelle boy to make the state meet since John Crystal in 2009.
Thiravong and Griffith made history as the first Rochelle boy-girl pairing to qualify for state in the same season. While the Hubs will lose Griffith, Glosser and senior Tyler Nalley to graduation, several juniors have a chance to emerge in 2018 including Hayden Jones, Brady Shank, Luke Stecker, Isaac Green, Connor Lenkaitis and Ryan Friestad.
