Both Friday and Saturday rounds were held at Prairie Vista Golf Club in Bloomington.
The Panthers started the final day in 8th and moved up one passing sectional winner and powerhouse Byron by 2 strokes. Carthage (Illini West) took first place with a 609 total while Niles Northridge Prep took second at 618. EP finished with a 2 day total of 658.
Fulton’s senior, Owen VenZuidan took the individual medalist honors with a 2 under 142 total winning by one stroke.
Gavin Vandyke was the Panther leader for the 2 days with a 158 total good enough for 28th place of the 112 golfers that started the weekend. Grayson Johnston contributed a 165 followed by Sawyer Copeland at 167 and Keegan Ryan at 168. Freshmen, Brady Timmerman and Brevin Vandyke had 172 and 176 to finish the Panther scores.
The Panthers finished their dual meet season undefeated at 13-0 and the squad’s individual totals for the year averaged less than a 3 stroke difference giving them a big advantage with their balance in most meets.
Head coach Ryan Winckler summed up the weekend and season by stating “Really proud of the fight the boys put up today. We climbed all the way back in it and almost captured sixth. It was a great weekend with a lot of lessons learned. We had a group of great guys that grew a lot over this past season. They encouraged each other all season long and it took all seven (only one of which is a senior) to accomplish what we did. Different guys showed up each meet to contribute to our success. We’ve set a new standard and our future looks bright.”
