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Wessel, Guerin Catholic win Boys Golf State Championships
CARMEL – For a third consecutive year, the Indiana High School Athletic Association boys golf team state championship race came down to the wire.
For the second straight time, the defending state champion Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles soared in the moment at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.
Junior Leo Wessel shot an impressive 18-hole round score of 67 (5-under par) on Wednesday – following an opening round 71 (1-under par) – to finish 6-under par (138) overall and become Guerin Catholic’s first-ever individual state title, while the Golden Eagles fended off rival Westfield by two strokes, 589-591, to repeat.
In 2021-22, Guerin Catholic defeated top-ranked Westfield, 602-603, to win its first team state title, a year after falling one stroke short in 2020-21 to state champion Center Grove, 606-607.
A pair of clutch birdies by Wessel on the 16th and 18th holes Wednesday proved the difference for second-ranked Guerin Catholic, which has now captured more team state titles in program history than regional (one) or sectional crowns (zero).
“It’s pretty special. At this level, to do anything twice in a row is extremely special,” Guerin Catholic head coach Mark Mathews said. “We feel very fortunate. We’re blessed. We have one word on campus, and that’s ‘Providence.’ We believe in providence, and I think the Lord was with us today.”
The front-runner after an opening round score of 143 (1-under par), the Golden Eagles established a three-stroke advantage through 14 holes over Westfield in the final round.
However, a few setbacks on the back nine put Guerin Catholic behind Westfield by one stroke entering the final three holes, as the Shamrocks continued to shoot for their fourth state title overall and first since 2015-16.
“It’s great competition. I wish it happened like this every year, but I probably couldn’t handle it,” Mathews joked.
Wessel, a University of Cincinnati recruit, and senior Jacob Modleski, a Notre Dame commit, turned tension into elation down the stretch to not only cement Guerin Catholic’s back-to-back title run but to also become the first 1-2 individual finishers by a state championship team since Columbus North’s Christian Fairbanks and Michael VanDeventer were co-medalists in 2013-14.
Modleski shot a 67-74-141 (3-under par) and tied for second on the individual leaderboard with Westview’s Silas Haarer (75-66-141) and Leo’s Justin Hicks (71-70-141).
Valparaiso’s Aidan Gutierrez, the defending individual state champion, placed fifth at 2-under par (142).
“It’s pretty special. My whole crew is pretty special, but I have at the top of my crew two very special guys. They can both play golf, and they are both going to play golf for big NCAA D-I schools. I can’t tell you how much I’m proud of them,” Mathews said.
Modleski completed the clean sweep for the Golden Eagles by being named the Fred A. Keesling Mental Attitude Award winner, marking the first since 2019 when Carmel achieved the feat.
The Golden Eagles are the sixth program to win all three awards at the state finals in the past 48 years, beginning with Yorktown in 1975.
Modleski’s all-state finish marked his third in three years, including a fifth-place run in 2021-22 and a runner-up placement in 2020-21.
The senior leader was on a state-championship trajectory through the final round’s first-nine holes, shooting 1-under par before a double bogey on 13th hole and a bogey on 14 dropped him just behind Wessel.
“Obviously, you come in here looking for a team championship. Anything else when you’re playing for a team is a bonus. With the round I played yesterday, I knew I was in a good position to win individually, but at the end of the day, you have to do what’s in the best interest of the team, and a lot of times that’s going to be the same things,” Modleski said.
“Yeah, obviously, it would have been nice to have come out on top individually, but there’s no one I’d rather have win than my own teammate. At the end of the day, we got the most important job done.”
A birdie on the 16th hole by Modleski before he bogeyed both 17 and 18 kept the Golden Eagles within striking distance, as Westfield’s Alec Cesare, a Ball State commit, parred three straight holes between two double bogeys on 14 and 18.
Modleski had 11 birdies, 29 pars and seven bogeys through both rounds. Wessel fired 11 birdies, 31 pars and five bogeys.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to win state and to get it done feels really nice,” said Wessel, who tied for 10th last season. “I was on cruise control for pretty much the whole round, and then I three-putted, I think it was 12, then I bounced back birdie on the next hole, par five. The turning point for me, though, was on 17. I put it in the water on my second shot, and then I got up and down for bogey. I just knew in my mind, if I could just birdie the last hole, that would put me in a good spot.”
It put his team in the same position to win it all despite losing to Westfield at regional by seven strokes and trailing the sectional champion Shamrocks by 19 strokes the week prior.
“I guess we just turn it up a notch here. Maybe we play better on this course? We play a lot more practice rounds out here,” Wessel said. “It’s just practice.”
Westfield’s Jake Cesare tied for seventh to lead the Shamrocks with an even 144. Will Harvey tied for 10th at 1-over par 145. Alec Cesare deadlocked for 16th at 5-over par 149.
Guerin Catholic countered with Zach Thieme’s 154, which tied him for 31st. Eli Wessel tied for 39th and finished with a 156. Owen Nielsen tied for 53rd with a two-round tally of 159.
“I’m at a loss for words, and that’s unusual for me. I’m just awfully excited. I’m excited for my whole crew. We have a no-cut school. I carried 32 boys on my golf team, and I think because of those things, our program has been able to grow like it has,” Mathews said.
“Some of these kids who were D squanders a couple years ago are on my varsity squad now, so I think it instills hard work into them, and I’m super proud of our program and our school. It takes everything happening to make this work.”
Third-ranked Hamilton Southeastern finished third in the team standings at 600, Bloomington South was fourth (607) and Evansville North was fifth (612).
Modleski’s individual finish makes him the 10th golfer in the state tournament’s 86-year history to place fifth or better three times and fourth to medal third or higher in three state appearances.
“It was a great way to end the year. We played well. We knew we would have to play well in the state tournament, and we did,” Modleski said. “We came through and it says a lot about our individual players, our team chemistry, being able to play well when it really matters.”
Guerin Catholic’s Jacob Modleski named Mental Attitude Award recipient
During the awards ceremony, Jacob Modleski of Guerin Catholic High School was announced as the winner of the Fred A. Keesling Mental Attitude Award by members of the IHSAA Executive Committee.
Modleski graduated as a member of the National Honor Society, was a Guerin Catholic Ambassador for younger students, and served his school’s Student Athletic Board. He was voted Male Athlete of the Year for 2023, was a member of last year’s state championship team after finishing fifth overall and also participated in soccer and basketball for the Golden Eagles during his career.
Jacob is the son of Matt and Dianne Modleski of Noblesville, Ind. and plans to study business analytics at the University of Notre Dame and play golf for the Irish. He is the first golfer from Guerin Catholic to earn the award and joins classmate Bridget Gallagher who won the award in girls cross country last fall.
With the award, Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance presented $1,000 to Guerin Catholic High School's general scholarship fund in the name of Jacob Modleski.
The Executive Committee presents the Fred A. Keesling Award to an outstanding senior participant during the state finals each year dating back to 1971. The recipient of the award, nominated by his principal and coach, was determined to have best demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in boys golf. The award is named after the late long-time state tournament director.
