Columbus East’s Ben Luedeke hits a tee shot on No. 2 during the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament at Timbergate Golf Course in Edinburgh, Ind., Monday, May 22, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
EDINBURGH — The Columbus East and Jennings County boys golfers put up their best team scores of the season in Monday’s Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament.
Unfortunately for the Olympians and Panthers, they were chasing solid Floyd Central, Bedford North Lawrence and New Albany teams and finished in fourth and fifth place.
Floyd Central won the tournament with a 299 at Timbergate. BNL finished second with a 309, followed by New Albany (318), East (321), Jennings (336), Seymour (337) and Jeffersonville (434).
“They’ve just worked very hard,” East coach Keith VanDeventer said. “We have a ways to go, and we’ll keep working hard. But they have improved, which is an encouraging thing.”
The Olympians’ Ben Luedeke fired a 3-over-par 75 to tie for fifth individually and earn All-Conference honors.
“I hit the ball well all day and putted well,” Luedeke said. “I just had a couple bad holes that cost me some strokes, but overall, I played decent. There were just a couple bad shots that put me in bad positions, but other than that, I played well.”
Carter Greene carded a 77 for East to earn honorable mention All-Conference honors. Spencer Erfmeier added an 83, Pierce Arnholt shot 86 and Jamall Starks had an 88.
The Olympians shot 156 on front nine before seeing their scores rise a little on the back.
“We had a pretty good front nine and then didn’t finish as well on the back nine as we would have liked,” VanDeventer said. “That’s our best (for 18 holes), but we were just capable of playing a little bit better today and didn’t get it done.”
Meanwhile, Jennings also had its season-best 18-hole score of the season with its 336 to edge Seymour by one shot.
Jack George and Eli Simmons each shot 83 to lead the Panthers. Davey Shaw carded an 84, Jake Grider added an 86 and Tanner Stearns had an 89.
“Our last match, we shot a 356, so this is a big improvement,” Jennings coach Dave George said. “The potential has always been there. We have three kids that at any moment have the potential to shoot in the high 70s or low 80s. We just haven’t shown that this year. We have a goal of 328 by the end of the season. We’re slowly but surely getting there.”
New Albany’s Blaine Hamilton won medalist honors with a 2-under 70.
