The Mendota Trojan golfers competed in their first Three Rivers Conference Golf Meet on Sept. 21 at Byron Hills Golf Course in Port Byron.

Mendota placed eighth in the team standings with a score of 362. There were 14 teams in the event. Riverdale won the conference title by a wide margin with a score of 305. Sherrard was second with a 333, followed by Hall (336), St. Bede (336), Rockridge (337), Sterling Newman (351) and Princeton (362). Rounding out the standings were Bureau Valley (365), Morrison (370), Monmouth-Roseville (379), Orion (386), Erie-Prophetstown (389) and Kewanee (400).

Ethan Hanaman paced the Trojans with an 82, which was good enough for 11th place in the individual standings. Owen Aughenbaugh had the next lowest score for Mendota with a 90, followed by Dominik Stamberger at 92 and Logan Brandner at 98. Liam McGann (106) and Drake Dennis (116) completed the Trojan lineup.

Riverdale had three golfers finish in the top four. James Moorhusen was the overall champion with a 72, one stroke less than Drew Hall of Rockridge. Ashton Sutton (75) and Ben Nelson (77) placed third and fourth, respectively, for Riverdale. Sterling Newman’s Kyle Wolfe carded a 78 to round out the top five.

***

Ottawa shot a sizzling 151 and upended the Trojans, who had a 183, in a dual match on Sept. 23 at Ottawa. Mendota concluded the dual meet season with a 13-5 record.

“Overall, it was a very solid effort from start to finish,” said MHS coach David Ross. “They battled through some really close matches this year.”

Hanaman and Stamberger tied for the low round for the Trojans at 44. Brandner was next with a 46, while Braden McPheeters (49), McGann (50) and Aughenbaugh also competed.

Ottawa’s Jonathan Cooper and Drake Kaufman were co-medalists with 36s.

***

Mendota hosted 11 other teams in the Ryder Cup Tournament on Sept. 25. Ottawa took home the top spot in the team standings with a 229. Princeton was next with a 246 and the Trojans claimed third place with a 248. Also competing were Hall (250), Stillman Valley (252), St. Bede (253), Morris (258), LaSalle-Peru (264), Bureau Valley (266), Putnam County (291), Rock Falls (299) and Kewanee (320).

The MHS team of Hanaman-Brandner finished in sixth place overall with a score of 77. Also taking the course for the Trojans were the teams of Stamberger-Dennis (84) and McGann-B. McPheeters (87).

Tying for the individual title were the duos of Delaney-Pillion from St. Bede and Plym-Plym from Hall with 73s.