It was nice to see that we had some depth this year. We’re only losing two of our top eight players and it was great to see the younger guys hold their own and grind it out.”

Glen Mehrings

ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Hub varsity golf team will have nearly its entire starting lineup eligible to return next fall. After a successful season in which the Hubs posted scores not seen at RTHS over the last several years, head coach Glen Mehrings has high hopes for the future.

The Hubs finished with an 11-3 overall record and a 4-1 record in the Interstate 8 Conference. Rochelle’s only conference loss came against the Ottawa Pirates, who took home the IHSA 2A State Championship this season. The Hubs collected several nonconference victories over quality opponents including Freeport, Mendota, Oregon, Genoa-Kingston and DeKalb. Rochelle scored Interstate 8 wins over LaSalle-Peru, Sycamore, Kaneland and Morris.

“We shot in the 150s twice and that hasn’t happened here in a while,” Mehrings said. “We were getting scores from a medley of guys… It was nice to see that we had some depth this year. We’re only losing two of our top eight players and it was great to see the younger guys hold their own and grind it out. We started the season a little rough, but things started to turn around and players started to get more comfortable. Four of our top eight players were sophomores.”

Among the highlights for the Hubs this fall were an eight-match winning streak and a second-place team finish during the LaSalle-Peru Invitational. Rochelle also took fourth at the ACC Charger Invitational before placing fifth during the IHSA 2A Regional at Emerald Hill. Leading the way were junior Ian Metzger and sophomore Alex Dyer, who earned Interstate 8 All-Conference honors and qualified as individuals for the IHSA 2A Sectional at Hughes Creek.

“We beat a lot of quality programs and in years past, we would lose to those programs in a close match or we’d lose by 10 strokes,” Mehrings said. “It shows that our kids were playing good opponents and if they continue to practice hard over the offseason and make some gains, they’ll be able to have even more success next year… We want our kids to lead by example and both Ian and Alex practiced hard. They played in summer tournaments and hit balls indoors over the offseason. They showed that the kids can succeed through hard work. Golf is about hard work.”

Metzger and Dyer, who are now two-time sectional qualifiers and two-time Interstate 8 honorees, are five of the six varsity starters eligible to come back in 2025. Sophomores Owen Carmichael, Johnny Chadwick and Connor Lewis are eligible to return, while more sophomores including Preston Borris, Mason Ludwig, Jayden Hueramo and Trenton Cunningham could emerge in varsity roles next year. The Hubs will lose two seniors, Chris Hickey and Jacob Ost.

“When the kids are practicing or playing by themselves, there’s no pressure,” Mehrings said. “It was hard for the kids to do things under pressure at the start of the season, but our top eight players were able to improve under pressure throughout the season and that’s why we were able to win so many matches during the season. We followed a lot of our bad rounds with good rounds and it was great to see how the kids bounced back from a bad round. Most of our top players were able to put together two or three good rounds in a row as opposed to bad rounds.”