By TR HARLAN

It may seem strange, but Chesterton boys golf coach John Sparks was happy to see rain on Friday.

The Trojans took full advantage of what they called “good weather” to shoot a 300 team score and pick up a 19 stroke victory over Valparaiso in the IHSAA Sectional at Forest Park.

“We’ve played in so much stuff this year,” Sparks said. “It might have been the best weather in a tournament for us all year. It was just rain and I’ll take that over cold and wind anytime.”

Chesterton put four scores together for the first time this year led by Ryan Grassel’s 74. Grassel earned medalist honors after beating Valparaiso’s Cliff Bryan and Michigan City’s Drake Edmond in a playoff.

The Chesterton sophomore and Bryan both made par on the par 3 10th hole as Edmond made a four. Grassel won the playoff with a bogey when Bryan made double the second time.

“It was good to see Ryan in a playoff and come through like that,” Sparks said. “He’s got some experience in that situation and it paid off.”

Kyle Grassel and Nick Stasil both shot 75, while Josh Kalita fired a 76 for the Trojans. Steve Wuletich tallied an 82 to round out the scoring, but was right in the mix until hitting three balls out of bounds on 15 and 16.

“We seem to be coming around,” Sparks said. “It’s been an issue getting four guys low together because we’ve had some blow up holes. We really took care of the ball and made good decisions.”

The Trojans return to the course on Friday when they head to Beechwood in LaPorte for the Regional.

“Mentally we are in a much better place than we were a year ago,” Sparks said. “I think we have a lot more course knowledge at both Forest Park and Beechwood than we did last year. We made good decisions and we putted really well.

“We’ve played a lot of tournament golf between last year and now. Hopefully, it’ll make a nice transition to Beechwood.”

Valparaiso Sectional

AT FOREST PARK, Par 70

(Top three teams and top three individuals

from non-qualifying teams advance to

Friday's LaPorte Regional.)

Team Results

1. Chesterton, 300; 2. Valparaiso, 319; 3. Michigan City, 330; 4. Portage, 336; 5. Kankakee Valley, 363; 6. Knox, 364; 7. Michigan City Marquette, 369; 8. North Judson, 372; 9. Wheeler, 374; 10. Morgan Twp., 394; 11. Rensselaer, 400; 12. Oregon-Davis, 412; 13. Kouts, 420; 14. LaCrosse, 424; 15. South Central, 430; 16. Westville, 478.

Individual Results

Medalist: Ryan Grassel (Chesterton), 74.

Chesterton -- Ryan Grassel 74, Kyle Grassel 75, Nick Stasil 75, Josh Kalita 76, Steve Wuletich 82.

Valparaiso -- Cliff Bryan 74, Scott Ostojic 80, Eric Lisak 82, Zach Lomaka 83.

Michigan City -- Drake Edmond 74, Kyle Krause 81, Joseph DeBald 86, Michael Timm 89.

Portage -- Alex Quick 82, Nick Quick 83, Zac Stoehr 85, Corey Tulacz 86.

Kankakee Valley -- Anthony Johnson 83, Andrew Prentoski 88, Kenny Proud 95, Gary Ison 97.

Knox -- Christopher Newbauer 84, James Krause 92, Nathan Wallen 93, Blaine Wallen 95.

Michigan City Marquette – Andre Mason 80, Eric Pakuszewski 91, Hayden Janowiak 98, Geoff Cress 100.

North Judson -- Raymond MacKillop 84, Devin Myers 94, Lawrence Mattraw 95, Cody Abrams 99.

Wheeler -- Josh Jetmund 83, Ilija Labovic 83, Nathaniel English 103, Christian Schele 105.

Morgan Twp. -- Zach Marvel 93, Steven Hewitt 95, Steve Ruwersma 102, Eric Ihssen 104.

Rensselaer -- Kyle Whitaker 88, Bo Culp 98, Tyler Barton 107, Keegan Holbrook 107.

Oregon-Davis -- Daniel Henigsmith 88, Quinn Biddle 99, Ian Ferch 105, Charles Lawrence 120.

Kouts -- Preston Frame 100, Ryan Frame 103, Steven Napierala 103, Zane MacLean 114.

LaCrosse -- Logan Keehn 100, Tony Bukowski 102, Nate Engel 103, Cory Terpening 119.

South Central -- Bailey 79, Cody Beehler 108, Steven Rice 115, Ethan Kitchell 128.

Westville -- Evan Parks 101, Chris Goeman 119, Brandon Hodge 120, Aaron Lachiewicz 138.

Posted 6/2/2008