INDIANAPOLIS – Center Grove began the final round of the IHSAA Boys Golf State Finals in second place but tore it up over the last 18 holes setting records and earning the school’s first state championship in the sport.
Plymouth’s Micah Calhoun spent two days seeking for the second straight year an individual state title among the state’s very best high school golfers. Calhoun finished day two fighting the heat and humidity of Prairie View Golf Club shooting a 12 over par 84 to go with his round one score of 82 leaving him with a 22 over 166 for the tournament and a tie for 84th place.
“I was really battling the heat and humidity all day, I’m pretty sure I’ve never sweat that much on a golf course,” said Calhoun after his day two round. “Playing in the spring in northern Indiana you’re usually battling the cold.”
Day one saw Calhoun battling two weather delays and trying to get any momentum going at all. The senior waited out an hour and forty two minutes of weather delays on day one.
“I was pushing all my shots to the right today (Wednesday), and it was a totally different round,” he said. “Everything I did right yesterday I couldn’t do today and today everything I did right I couldn’t do yesterday. It was a great experience to be here but honestly I feel like I played pretty poorly. I don’t feel really very good about either round.
“It’s really disappointing but that’s the way the game is sometimes. It was still an awesome experience just to be here and I feel really fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity. Being here twice was an awesome experience.”
Three Center Grove Trojans finished among the top six players lead by junior Noah Gillard who earned overall individual honors with a two-day total (72-66-138) and became his school’s first boys golf state medalist. Center Grove set state finals records for 18 and 36 holes on Wednesday. Coached by Matt Rodman, their 281 over the final 18 bested the mark of 283 shared by Columbus North (2011) and Noblesville (2013), both set at The Legends Golf Club. The team’s two-day 573 surpassed the 575 set by Westfield in 2013, also at The Legends.
Second-ranked Carmel, which held a six-stroke lead after Day 1, finished as this year’s state runner-up (286-300-586), followed by third-ranked and two-time defending champ Westfield (293-301-594), fifth-ranked Noblesville (300-298-598) and No. 11 Columbus North (305-303-608) rounded out the top five.
At the conclusion of the state finals, Kevin Stone of Carmel High School was selected as the winner of the Fred A. Keesling Mental Attitude Award by members of the IHSAA Executive Committee.
Stone is a four-year varsity letter winner in golf and has won five 18-hole tournaments this season and placed third at three others for the Greyhounds.
Academically, he carried a 3.98 GPA while taking one of the toughest schedules that his school offered through Advanced Placement, Honors and AP Capstone courses. He also participated in the first year of Carmel’s Transition to College program that places him in a college setting for his classes and schedule to challenge him for his next level of education.
