(photo courtesy Saint Joseph High School Athletics)

On Monday, Saint Joseph’s golf team barely made it out of a very competitive South Bend sectional, downing Penn by just three strokes for third-place honors.

However, the Huskies responded Thursday, putting together a team score of 313 on a very tough Sandy Pines Golf Club. That proved to be enough to narrowly edge Elkhart for the Lake Central Regional championship.

Saint Joseph and Elkhart both posted team scores of 313 based on the top four players, but the Huskies get the nod based on an 82 from Beau Barney, who had the team’s fifth-highest score.   Both the Huskies and the Lions move on to state, along with Lake Central, which comes in third with a 314.  Trinity at Greenlawn just misses a trip to state with a 315.

Elkhart’s Ben Divido took medalist honors with a 70, one stroke better than Saint Joseph’s Zach Matthys. Trinity’s Jack Cressy won the last individual qualifying spot, defeating teammate Nathan Palmer in a three-hole playoff.

The fifth player rule was not as kind to Warsaw at Stonehenge CC. The Tigers tied Leo and Bishop Dwenger for second and third with a 313. The fifth player rule could have sent the Tigers to state. However, the player admitted to playing the wrong ball on a hole during his round and was disqualified, allowing Leo and Dwenger to advance to state along with regional champion Homestead.

“It was a moment of great integrity,” said tournament director Michael Howk. “At a time, the young man could have tried to fib and make things easier for his team, he owned his mistake. It was really admirable.”

Admirable also describes the way some area golfers played in that regional. Defending state champion Brayden Miller of Fairfield carded a 66 to take medalist honors by a stroke over Westview’s Silas Haarer, who won the sectional Monday. Both area golfers will represent Michiana at the IHSAA state finals. Those will be contested at Prairie View GC on Tuesday, June 17 and Wednesday, June 18.