Bloomington, IL - The sixth-ranked Illinois Central College Men's Golf team made the short trip to Crestwicke Country Club in Bloomington on Monday to participate in the I-74 Challenge. The field was small, but loaded, with the #6 Cougars, #4 Parkland, #9 Heartland, and Region 24 member Danville Area. The event served as a tune-up for the four programs in advance of next weekend's Region 24 Championship. Once again, conditions were far from favorable, but the Cougars were able to prevail, besting #4 Parkland by three strokes and #9 Heartland by 14 strokes, with Trey Boecker, DJ Norman, Brock Taylor, and Brooks Cluver all finding their way into the individual Top 10. 

TREY BOECKER | 3RD | +6 / 150
On a normal-weather day, a +6/78 may have a nationally-ranked golfer like Trey Boecker perhaps looking at just a couple small things to improve, but the fact of the matter is, conditions left it to where only one player in the entire 30-golfer field even broke par in the morning, so it was no harm done. Boecker was still able to muster three birdies and 10 pars despite the wind, cold temps, and mist, so effectively a little bit of everything. 

The afternoon round saw Boecker's scorecard jump to a six-stroke improvement, going for an E/72. Boecker would play even golf on the front nine, with a birdie on the par-five 6th canceling out an earlier bogey. Another even back nine saw birdies on the par-three 13th and par-four 15th negate a pair of bogeys on either side of the birdies. In the end, the aforementioned E/72 was one of only two afternoon rounds in the field that either hit or broke par. 

DJ NORMAN | 4TH | +9 / 153
Norman's morning round saw a +1 on the front nine, where he was -1 within the first six holes, getting a birdie on the par-five 2nd. Ultimately, it would be a +5/77 on the first 18 of the day. 

The +1/37 on the front nine of the morning round would be Norman's best nine of the event, but still quality golf on the afternoon 18, getting a +4/76 for a one stroke improvement from the early round. Norman would birdie the par-five 2nd again and par each of the 13th-18th holes to conclude his 36 hole day. 

BROCK TAYLOR | 5TH | +11 / 155
Taylor's morning round ended up as a +6/78, getting par on 12 holes. Both the front and back nines were evenly split at +3/39. 

In the afternoon round, Taylor would improve his score by one stroke, getting his two birdies for the day, both on par-five holes - the 2nd and 11th. 

BROOKS CLUVER | 10TH | +15 / 159
Cluver caps an event that sees the Cougars place four in the top 10. His best nine of the event would be right from the get-go, going for a +1/37 on the front nine, including a birdie, like a couple of his teammates, on the par-five 2nd. Cluver would also birdie once on the back nine (the par-five 11th) for a +6/78 on the morning round. 

In the afternoon, Cluver birdied twice on the front nine, inlcluding the par-five 6th and yes, the par-five 2nd again. Cluver would par four holes on the back nine for a +9/81 afternoon round. 

PEYTON WOODS | 12TH | +17 / 161
Woods felt the brunt of the conditions in his morning round, but was able to push across five pars on the front nine, and three on the back nine, whilst also getting birdies on the par-five 11th and par-three 17th for a +13/85 on the morning round. 

However, Woods rebounded quite nicely in the afternoon 18, seeing a nine-stroke improvement. Woods would birdie twice on the front nine (par-five 2nd and par-five 6th), before adding pars on six of the back nine for a +4/76 afternoon. 

QUINN COX | 13TH | +17 / 161
Cox would par three times on the front nine in the morning, and get a +2/38 on the back nine, which included a birdie on the par-five 11th for a +9/81 in his morning round. 

The afternoon round was mirror images of each other, getting a +4/40 on both the front and back nines, which had pars on 11 holes. 

DRAKE KAUFMAN | 23RD | +23 / 167
Kaufman's morning round would be his best. Carding a +10/82, Kaufman birdied the par-five 2nd before going +4/40 on the back nine, also getting a birdie on the par-four 12th. 

The afternoon round saw Kaufman go for a +7/43 on the front nine, getting a par on three holes, then a +6/42 featured five pars on the back nine to conclude his event. 

HE SAID IT - QUOTE FROM COACH SEAN KENNEDY
"A resilient comeback by the Cougars to claim back to back championships over ranked Region rivals Parkland and Heartland. The Cougars responded in the afternoon taking some confidence building momentum into next week's Region 24 qualifier." 

TEAM SCORING
1ST | #6 ICC COUGARS | +39 / 615
2ND | #4 PARKLAND | +42 / 618
3RD | #9 HEARTLAND | +53 / 629
4TH | DANVILLE AREA | +83 / 659

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
2025 Region 24 Championship
Monday & Tuesday, April 28th & 29th
8:30 AM Start Time Both Days
at Panther Creek Country Club
Springfield, Illinois