This is our first boys/girls golf update of the season, covering the period from Aug.14-23.

BOYS

Last year, the top three teams at the Little Illini Conference tournament were separated by only six shots. If early-season returns this year are any indication, it may be another wide-open field that gathers on Sept. 24 at Richland Country Club in Olney to decide the league championship.

Olney recorded a couple of team wins in the early-going. The Tigers beat defending league champion Mt. Carmel by six shots on the latter’s West Berwick course on Aug. 14. Five days later, Olney finished four shots up on Casey-Westfield at Casey Country Club.

Then, there is Olney’s 1-2 senior combo of Ayden Nealis and Reese Glover. Those two will lead the field in on LIC tournament day, though there are several other threats who could steal medalist honors away from Nealis, who won it last year with a 2-under par round of 69 in Mt. Carmel.

Nealis and Glover both fired 73’s against Mt. Carmel in this fall’s early matchup, followed by Aces sophomore Zane Wilcox (75) and junior Hatcher Kanipe (76). Casey-Westfield counters with a triple threat of its’ own: senior Carson Hall and juniors Tyler Volk and Kian Garver. In that Aug. 19 invite with Olney, Nealis and Glover led with rounds of 36 and 37, respectively. But, Hall and Volk were right there with rounds of 38 and 39.  All three Warriors tied for medalist honors with 39’s at Oak Glenn Golf Course in Oblong on Aug. 14.

Those aren’t the only names you might see at the top of the leaderboard on tournament day. Newton senior Michael Kennedy and Paris junior Sean Dunn were both near the top on Aug. 19 at Olney with rounds of 40.

Robinson junior Zach Chamblin also has a round of 40 under his belt.

GIRLS

Mt. Carmel continues to hum right along towards a possible fifth straight IHSA Class 1A state championship. The Lady Aces recorded a 117-shot victory at their own Invitational to open the season on Aug. 14. They have other team wins over southern Illinois power Massac County, and one of Indiana’s top large schools in Castle. A highly-anticipated matchup against Illinois state power Effingham St. Anthony will occur on Sept. 15 at an invite at Quail Creek in Robinson.

Seniors Zeme Moore and Miley Kennard continue to pile up multiple below-par rounds to lead the way for Mt. Carmel, which last year claimed all six spots on the all-conference first team.  They are all top contenders for medalist honors again, though others who could muscle their way into the top tier include the Newton tandem of Peyton Lindley, last year a second-team pick, and Haley Ochs, along with Robinson’s Leah Correll.

Lindley and Ochs are the only members of Newton’s girls team, but they have more than held their own. They were co-medalists in an early-season matchup with Teutopolis and Class 2A power Edwardsville.

Ochs and Moore have also made other headlines. They both have recorded a hole-in-one this season.