Deep freshman class has Chesterton varsity boys golf team heating up ahead of schedule

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

A young golfer can establish credibility with words and actions as much or more when things are out of whack as when living in the fairway and dropping putts.
Take the case of Chesterton freshman Miles Mulcahy. He opened the season with an 87 at Round Barn in Rochester, quite the high school debut. He again played well in the first nine-hole match.
“Then he lost his swing for a while and couldn’t hit the ball straight,” Chesterton second-year coach Marc Bruner said. “But he just keeps working: ‘I’m close, Coach, I’m close. I just need another day at the range.’”
When Mulcahy says he’s close, Bruner now knows he can trust him. Mulcahy broke 90 at a late April weekend JV tournament to earn his way back into the varsity lineup in a dual with Valparaiso last Thursday that the Vikings won Thursday at Valparaiso Country Club, 165-179. The cold, cloudy day wasn’t a good one for the team, but Mulcahy logged the second-best score with a 44 and kept his spot in the lineup for the Wawasee Invitational on Saturday at Maxwelton Golf Club in Syracuse.
This time, Mulcahy had plenty of company in playing well. Chesterton had its best team score, 326, in a tournament since an all-senior lineup totaled 324 strokes for the first of two days at the state finals on June 11, 2024 at challenging Prairie View in Carmel.
Mulcahy’s 85 at Maxwelton was the fourth and final score used toward the team tally and two of the three golfers in front of him are classmates.
Junior Jake Bobin was the team’s low man, as has been the case every round this season. Bobin shook off a slow start and caught fire to card a 77, thanks to a stretch that featured three birdies in four holes.
Freshmen Zac Racette and Massimo Popa both shot 82. Senior Drew Pacilio’s 89 was not needed for the team score, which landed the Trojans in fifth place in the tournament.
All three freshmen posted their best scores of the season, Mulcahy by two strokes, Racette by three, and Popa by seven.
“We have a lot of good players,” Mulcahy said of the freshman class. “I’ve played with them all a lot.”
Racette has been a fixture in the lineup and Popa has played varsity in most of the events. Dylan Duffy and Liam Henley also have played for the varsity, giving the Trojans five freshmen with varsity experience already.
“They’ve all had good rounds and they’ve all had rounds where they’ve looked like freshmen,” Bruner said. “But none of them have looked overwhelmed by the moment. They’ve rallied to get through things and be serviceable.”
Beyond showing promise as a golfer, Henley has supplied the sort of personable energy boost that one-year varsity standout Tyler Brown did a year ago.
“I miss Tyler,” Bruner said. “He was just a really fun kid to have around. Liam’s our next Tyler Brown, same kind of personality, a very verbose guy.”
And a talented golfer.
“Liam’s done some good things, put up some pretty good scores,” Bruner said. “He’s going to push people.”
Having the depth to create competition for one of the four spots behind Bobin for tournaments and nine-hole matches helps players get accustomed to playing with a lot riding on every shot, good preparation for facing other schools.