Beecher’s boys golf team extended its streak of River Valley Conference titles to eight in a row with a commanding performance in the RVC Tournament on Tuesday, shooting a 334 on their home course at Lincolnshire Country Club to clear second-place St. Anne by 59 strokes.
The top four individual scores belonged to Beecher, with senior Peyton Serafin shooting a 75 to earn RVC Boys Player of the Year honors, senior Ben Anaclerio shooting an 83 and junior Charlie Nowak and freshman Jacob Benck both shooting 88.
“I was pretty happy and satisfied with the team’s performance,” Serafin said. “We were able to come out, clinch the victory and keep the streak alive at least. I know we fought through some tough times on the course today and were able to come out on top.”
Beecher is coming off a 2024 season in which they won their seventh straight regional title, second-ever sectional title and finished ninth at state as a team, with Serafin placing third individually.
With the conference tournament now over, the Bobcats will gear up for regionals on Oct. 1, where they will look for their eighth regional title in a row. Sectionals will be Oct. 6 with state beginning on Oct. 10 in Bloomington.
Head coach David Serafin said the team was able to translate things they’ve been working on to the course on Tuesday, and they just need to keep working towards those results if they want to finish off the season with more postseason success.
“We’re going to continue to work on the things we’ve been practicing,” he said. “We have really good practice routines for them. They’re sticking with it and they’re seeing the fruits of their hard work in those areas. We had a couple chip-ins today, I think three from our guys, and we work real hard on that short-game stuff. To see it paying off in a tournament is fantastic.”
Each of Beecher’s top four earned All-RVC honors for finishing in the top six, joined by St. Anne’s Carson Meister (89) and Momence’s Dylan Billadeau (93), who won a tiebreaking putt-off over Illinois Lutheran’s Brayden Van Es to claim the last All-Conference spot.
Momence placed third overall (433) while Illinois Lutheran was fourth (434), Grant Park was fifth (478) and Donovan was sixth (486).
On the girls side, Donovan senior Laylah Lou Walters won RVC Girls Player of the Year with her score of 98, putting her seven strokes clear of Grant Park’s Cheyenne Hayes.
Walters said she was happy with how she played Tuesday and hopes she can use it to build toward a strong finish to her senior season.
“My goal is to make it to sectionals this year,” she said. “…I think I played pretty well. I played my clubs really well. I knew what club to use, when to use it, and I think my putting was done well too.”
Walters is one of two golfers on the girls side for Donovan while Hayes is Grant Park lone girls golfer. St. Anne and Beecher fielded full teams for the RVC Tournament, with St. Anne’s 431 giving them the edge over Beecher’s 445.
Andie Zeedyk and Haley Behrands both shot 106 to lead the Cardinals and tie for third individually. Riley Behrands placed eighth with a 109 and Marleigh Tryban finished ninth with a 110.
Zeedyk and Haley Behrands joined Walters and Hayes on the All-RVC list along with fifth-place finisher Fiona Hogan-Storbeck (107) of Beecher. Illinois Lutheran’s Julia Jacobucci and Beecher’s Kaley Zelhart tied for sixth at 108 but Jacobucci claimed the last All-Conference spot with a win in a putt-off tiebreaker.
St. Anne coach David Palan said that he’s seen a lot of hard work pay off for the girls team, as well as the boys with their runner-up finish.
“They come to practice and they work hard, and they really do care,” he said. “They want to get better, and it’s creating a good environment because we’re kind of building confidence between each other, and getting motivated for the upcoming tournaments.”