On the weekend of September 30, at the Kewanee Dunes Golf Club, the Pleasant Valley boys’ golf team won their conference tournament, becoming MAC champions for the first time since 2012. The Spartan’s varsity squad scored a two-day total of 622, narrowly defeating their rival competitors the Bettendorf Bulldogs by 3 strokes.

Freshman, Jack Roemer, was the top golfer for the Spartans during the tournament, placing 2nd overall individually. Roemer stated, “It felt great winning the MAC tournament because all of our hard work this season really paid off. The whole experience has been great, especially as a freshman because now I’ll be ready for tough situations in the future.”   

The young Spartan golfers, led by first year head coach, Mike Nedelcoff, have had an impressive season thus far, and they hope to see their success carry into postseason play. Nedelcoff emphasized, “Winning the MAC tournament is a source of momentum for us, but it doesn’t guarantee anything in the future.” Nedelcoff mentioned the fact that his team defeated 9 other teams in their conference, but during the postseason, they would be teeing off against different teams, all of which are tough competition.

The Spartan’s varsity team will only be graduating one senior after this season, so the young bunch is giving the Pleasant Valley boys’ golf program a promising future. Roemer said, “It’s exciting knowing that we are all young and motivated to continue to get better, especially with long high school golf careers ahead of us.” Nedelcoff stated, “The team will keep improving because the boys all have the potential to become even stronger golfers.”

The Pleasant Valley boys golfers have reclaimed the conference title for the first time in 5 years, and as the season winds down they are hopeful they will perform just as well at both the district and state tournaments.