On their way through a perfect regular season, the Chesterton Trojans picked up nonchalant victories the final two weeks of the year.

Not a problem with the State Tournament series now underway.

“They seemed to be right,” Chesterton coach John Sparks said. “These guys are good students too and at the end of the year is finals and three seniors had graduation. Now we get to really focus on just what’s ahead for us.”

The Trojans cruised to the Sectional title with a 289 team score that outdistanced second place Valparaiso (318) by 29 shots. Chesterton also posted the four lowest scores of the tournament with junior Ryan Grassel taking medalist honors for the second consecutive year with a one-under par 69.

Grassel chipped in for eagle on the par 5 second hole and also tallied birdies on holes 9, 12 and 18.

“Ryan’s 69 was outstanding,” Sparks said. “and he could have been even better and most of the team can say that.”

The comeback round of the day might have come from Nick Stasil who fired a 39 on the front, only to come back with a three-under par 31 on the back to shoot a 70.

“We’ve lost a lot of Sectionals on that back nine,” Sparks said. “For Nick to shoot 39 and then 31 on the back is incredible. He three-putted on (hole) nine and then just made up his mind to play better.”

Stasil stuck it close on No. 10 for a birdie to jump start the backside. Then went through a three-hole stretch (14-16) by carding birdie, eagle and birdie.

“Today everyone just went out and really took care of things,” Sparks said. “Everyone kept their focus and didn’t let little problems here and there bother them.”

Kyle Grassel’s 74 and Josh Kalita’s 76 were the next two best scores in the tournament, while Pat Herrod shot 83 to round out the scoring.

“Josh and Kyle going 74, 76 is huge for us,” Sparks said. “Our focus needs to be putting this week though. We didn’t putt as well as we could have.”

The Trojans will try to earn their second straight State Finals appearance when they travel to Beechwood next Friday for the LaPorte Regional.

“Last year the difference was the way they attacked the course,” Sparks recalled. “We hadn’t always done that in the past. When things got tough, they had a plan and hopefully we can do that again.”

Top competition for Chesterton should come from Mishawaka Marian, Penn and LaPorte.

“Strange things happen over there,” Sparks said. “We’ll have to go out and play really well. Marian and Penn are solid and LaPorte always plays really well on their home course.”

1. CHESTERTON 289, 2. VALPARAISO 318, 3. MICHIGAN CITY 318, 4. WHEELER 348, 5. KNOX 348, 6. RENSSELAER 349, 7. PORTAGE 354, 8. NORTH JUDSON 370, 9. MORGAN TWP. 372, 10. M.C. MARQUETTE 387, 11. KOUTS 429, 12. WESTVILLE 430, 13. SOUTH CENTRAL 435.

MEDALIST -- Ryan Grassel (Chesterton) 69.

CHESTERTON -- Ryan Grassel 69, Nick Stasil 70, Kyle Grassel 74, Josh Kalita 76, Pat Herrod 83.

VALPARAISO -- Brian Bartholomew 79, Jeff Lenz 79, Dan Sepiol 79, Logan Bertalan 81.

MICHIGAN CITY -- Joseph Debald 76, Blake Jankowski 80, Michael Timm 80, Drake Edmond 82.

WHEELER -- Redondo 79, Labovic 80, Josh Jetmund 92, Fleetwood Young 97.

KNOX -- Newbauer 79, Blaine Wallen 84, James Krause 89, Nathan Wallen 96.

RENSSELAER -- Bo Culp 83, Kyle Whitaker 87, Keegan Holbrook 89, Chris Salrin 90.

PORTAGE -- Tim Talley 85, Jack Lewis 89, Paul Shane 89, Kyle Adkins 91.

NORTH JUDSON -- Devin Myers 84, Luke Chinworth 87, Lawrence Mattraw 96, Drake Barett 103.

MORGAN TWP. -- Andrew Sharp 90, Steven Hewitt 92, Eric Ihssen 93, Jaron Coleman 97.

M.C. MARQUETTE -- Geoff Cress 81, Connor Post 100, Brian Cress 102, Tyler Gondor 104.

KOUTS -- Matt Bradley 95, Jon Frame 99, Steve Napieria 114, Ryan Frame 121.

WESTVILLE -- Brad Heideman 94, Evan Parks 108, Aaron Lachowicz 114, Christian Porter 114.

SOUTH CENTRAL -- Cody Beehler 95, Zach Sikora 110, Dylan Poort 113, Matthew Stull 117.

LACROSSE -- Tucker Jones 93, Dillon Steininger 107, Isiah Shanko 114.

KANKAKEE VALLEY -- Derrick DeKock 87, Derek Smenyak 92, Kyle Whited 93.

OREGON-DAVIS -- Quinn Biddle 98, Derek Henigsmith 176.

Individual regional qualifiers: 1. Julian Redondo (Wh) 79, 2. Christopher Newbauer (Kn) 79, 3. Ilija Labovic (Wh) 80.

Posted 6/8/2009