By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – West Branch entered Tuesday’s River Valley Conference meet without a single tournament victory to its credit this season.

The Bears couldn’t have picked a better time for their first.

West Branch fired a 320 to edge Wilton by two strokes for the RVC title on Tuesday at sunny and warm Saddleback Ridge Golf Course in Solon.

“We have been the team that is finishing third and fourth a lot but we haven’t been the team that is winning tournaments,” West Branch coach Randy Sexton said. “On the way over we talked about how we had the potential to hang with anyone it was just a matter of putting it all together. Today the boys came with a different attitude and just played smart and played extremely well.”

Junior Trevor Thein shot a two-over-par 74 to finish runner-up and sophomore Brady Lukavsky carded a 79 to place seventh as the top four West Branch golfers all shot 86 or better.

Sophomore Ted Bridges was 10th with an 81 and freshman Matt Whaley added an 86.

Thein earned elite all-conference honors with his runner-up finish while Lukavsky and Bridges both earned first-team honors.

“I think that we all knew that we had a really good opportunity to come out and play very well,” Thein said. “We were very confident coming into today, we knew we were going to be the underdogs and nobody was going to see us coming and I think that’s what happened today.”

To get its first win in the biggest tournament of the season to date West Branch had to get over the hump against a familiar foe.

Prior to Tuesday, Wilton had been at every tournament West Branch had competed in this season and the Beavers had bested the Bears each time.

Wilton carded four rounds of 84 or better on Tuesday, led by a 74 from senior Jake Fratze, but it wasn’t enough to catch West Branch.  

“I think we had the confidence and we had nothing to lose,” Lukavsky said. “We wanted to go out and give our best and I think we did that all the way through our lineup.”

Thein helped West Branch get off to a strong start, shooting a three-under-par 33 on the front nine.

The 33 was the lowest nine-hole total for any player on Tuesday and included birdies on the par-three second, the par-five seventh and par-five ninth.

“I think it’s a great confidence booster right off the bat just knowing that we are in contention early,” Thein said. “I think that gave a lot of the guys some confidence to keep driving and keep grinding because we were in it.”

Led by the 33 from Thein, West Branch shot its best nine-hole score of the season on the opening nine by better than 20 strokes.

Bridges shot a 38 on the front and Lukavsky a 39 as West Branch carded a 153 on the front nine, 21 strokes better than its previous best nine-hole score of the season.

“We got off to a good start,” Sexton said. “Ted came in right away with a 38 and Trevor was right behind him with a 33 and Brady came in with a 39 so right away we knew we were right in the thick of it.”

Wilton nearly matched that effort on the back nine, shooting a 158 but it wasn’t enough to catch the Bears.

Five of the six West Branch golfers scored between 40 and 43 on the back nine to secure the win. “We putted the ball really well today,” Thein said. “Talking to a lot of the guys they said that they made a lot of key putts, I made a lot of key putts today and that’s where it is won or lost on the putting green.”

Regina had three golfers finish in the top 20 and finished fifth with a 338, one stroke in front of Durant.

Noah Felderman and Jake Phillips each shot an 83 to earn honorable mention all-conference honors while freshman Mark Schomer shot an 84 to finish 20th and earn honorable mention status for the Regals.

River Valley Conference Meet

Team results – 1. West Branch 320; 2. Wilton 322; 3. North Cedar 330; 4. Mid-Prairie 337; 5. Regina 338; 6. Durant 339; 7. Tipton 348; 8. West Liberty 350; 9. Cascade 352; 10. Bellevue 357; 11. Monticello 367; 12. Camanche 371; 13. Northeast 425.

Individual results – 1. Race Cuckler (CAS) 35-36 – 71; 2. Trevor Thein (WB) 33-41 – 74; 3. Jake Fratzke (WIL) 38-36 – 74; 4. Duncan McCain (MP) 38-38 – 76; 5. Connor Michels (BEL) 37-39 – 76; 6. Austin Beaver (WL) 36-42 – 78; 7. Brady Lukavsky 39-40 – 79; 8. Tanner Mullan (NC) 39-40 – 79; 9. Noah Schlabaugh (MP) 40-40 – 80; 10. Ted Bridges (WB) 38-43 – 81; 11. Tyler Hartman (WIL) 40-41 – 81; 12. Ethan Hill (NC) 39-42 – 81; 13. Nick Dewell (NC) 42-40 – 82; 14. Jared Townsend (WIL) 45-38 – 83; 15. Jake Phillips (ICR) 41-42 – 83; 16. Landon Hill (TIP) 41-41 – 83; 17. Noah Felderman (ICR) 42-41 – 83; 18. Nolan Leaton (WIL) 41-43 – 84; 19. Lucas Callison (DUR) 43-41 – 84; 20. Mark Schomer (ICR) 40-44 – 84.

West Branch (320) – Trevor Thein 33-41 – 74; Brady Lukavsky 39-40 – 79; Ted Bridges 38-43 – 81; Matt Whaley 43-43 – 86; Cade Aspelmeier 46-42 – 88; Evan O’Neil 45-52 – 97.

Regina (338) – Noah Felderman 42-41 – 83; Jake Phillips 41-42 – 83; Mark Schomer 40-44 – 84; Trae Rogers 44-44 – 88; Zach Seaman 44-46 – 90; Nic Hein 50-47 – 97.