PREP BOYS GOLF: Haarer ties for 2nd, Miller 6th at state finals

Jun. 14—CARMEL — Two of the top six boys golfers in the state of Indiana reside in the Northeast Corner Conference.

Both are sophomores, too.

Westview's Silas Haarer put up one of the best single rounds in IHSAA state tournament history Wednesday, shooting a 66 after carding a 75 in Tuesday's first round to lead him to a tie for second place in the final individual standings.

Moments after Haarer finished Wednesday, Fairfield's Brayden Miller posted a final-round score of 74, which combined with his 69 from Tuesday gave him a 1 under showing for the two days, earning sixth place overall. Both earned automatic all-state recognition with their performances.

Guerin Catholic repeated as team champions, winning the title on the final hole of the day to edge Westfield by two shots. The Golden Eagles had the individual champion as well, with junior Leo Wessel shooting a 6 under across the two days to win by three strokes over Haarer, Leo High School junior Justin Hicks and Wessel's teammate, senior Jacob Modleski.

HAARER IS HISTORIC

Not only did Haarer's round of 66 vault him from 22nd place after the first day to second Wednesday, but it was historic, too. The 6 under score is tied for the fourth lowest total for an 18-hole round in state tournament history and is the second lowest for a state round played at Prairie View GC.

Two 63's have been shot at the state finals (Tyler Duncan, Columbus North, in 2007 and Tyler Ostrom, Warsaw, in 2011), both when the tournament was played at The Legends Club in Franklin. Cedric McAree from Hamilton Southeastern has the Prairie View record of 65, set in 2016. Haarer's 66 ties him for second with a pair of Center Grove teammates, Noah Gillard and Sam Jean, who both did it in in 2017.

"Wow," was Haarer's initial reaction when told of the history he had made. "That's cool. That's really cool to be up there with all those other guys. That's awesome."

Haarer's day didn't start off well, as he had a three-putt on No. 1 for a bogey.

Nobody foresaw what would happen next.

After making three-straight pars, Haarer made a birdie on No. 5. He then birdied No. 7, followed by two more pars to bring his overall score to 2 over with nine holes remaining.

Haarer then went on his best scorched earth tour the next four holes. He made a birdie on No. 10, an eagle on No. 11 after holing out from around 160 yards, a birdie on the par-3 No. 12 after nearly making a hole-in-one with his tee shot, and then another birdie on the par-5 No. 13 after navigating a second shot that went into the sand trap.

The shot on No. 11 stood out, for obvious reasons. Most people didn't see the ball go in, due to the sloped nature of the green. Only one of Silas's playing partners, Borden senior AJ Agnew, and Silas's younger brother, Luke, saw the ball go into the hole immediately. Haarer wasn't even looking toward the hole still when the ball dropped in.

"Having a hole-out is one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life," Haarer said. "To do it at state, it was awesome. For me, it was kind of a blind shot. It looked decent and landed right around the hole, and then somehow went in.

"My first reaction was, 'What should my celebration be?' I couldn't just high-five my coach, so I high-fived some other people as well."

His tee shot on No. 12 came within three feet of the hole, almost giving him back-to-back eagles.

"I honestly thought it went in for a second," Haarer admitted. "I was like, 'No way did that happen.' I don't know what that reaction would've looked like; I would've had to jump in the lake or something."

Haarer's one slip-up on the back nine came when he bogeyed No. 14. After a par on 15, the Westview standout had one more big shot in him, chipping-in a birdie from the edge of the green on No. 16.

"I'll be honest, I thought I had some pace on it; it would've been a tough putt coming back," said Haarer of the chip-in on No. 16. "On the scorecard, it says birdie, and I'll take that for sure."

For the tournament, Haarer had 12 birdies and one eagle, which was the most of those two combined of any player in the field. His score was weighed down by six bogeys and two double-bogeys.

His second-place finish is the best of any player in Westview program history.

"All I can say is it's awesome," Haarer said. "Anything top 10 would've made for a great experience. I love it."

MILLER FINISHES SIXTH

After starting the day in third place, Miller dropped three spots to take sixth, which was six spots better than his 12th-place showing as a freshman in 2022.

His day started strong, as he made a birdie on No. 1 following a strong tee shot and iron shot onto the green. From that point-on, though, the Fairfield standout had a hard time making birdie putts. He had three nearly go in on holes No. 2, 3 and 8, ultimately settling for par on each of those.

His only blemish on the front-nine was a bogey on No. 7. He then had a bogey on No. 11 and a double-bogey on No. 17 before salvaging his day by making a birdie on No. 18.

"It stings, for sure," Miller said. "I played super well on the front-nine. I felt like I was striking way better than I was (Tuesday), then when we made the turn, everything kind of fell apart and didn't go the way I wanted. I hit some really bad tee shots and didn't do the stuff I wanted to. That's OK; that's golf."

Still being able to post a below-par score was an accomplishment for Miller.

"I needed to make that (birdie on 18) to get to 1 under par for the tournament, so I'm kind of happy to be at 1 under than even," Miller said. "I got into the red numbers, and that's all that matters. ... I'm just super glad I can make it down here. Just knowing that only two individuals (from non-advancing teams at regionals) can make it makes me supe thankful."

NORTHRIDGE PLAYS BETTER ON DAY TWO

While Northridge wasn't able to crawl out of 18th place in the final team standings, they played much better Wednesday than they did Tuesday.

After posting a team score of 355 in the first round, the Raiders came back with a 328 in the final round. Individually, senior Brock Reschly shot a 75, junior Conner Hochstetler 78, junior Coby Hochstetler 84, junior Isaiah Lehman 91 and junior Vadim Kidun 95 Wednesday, with all five scores being better than what they shot Tuesday.

"That's what this team was capable of," said Northridge coach Ken Brewster of his team's performance Wednesday. "They didn't have it (Tuesday), but (Wednesday), they showed the battle and the grit to come back to play well. Conner was 10 strokes better, which was huge. Brock had a four-stroke improvement. Every kid was better, and that's all you can ask for."

While it was still a last-place showing, being able to play better Wednesday left a better feeling for everyone within the Northridge program.

"It's a great way to end the season, on a higher note than what we were (Tuesday) because we were pretty down after the round," Brewster said. "Just to end on that higher note, have some kids do some things, throw in some birdies here and there, make some putts. All year, they battled."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.