THE TRIBUNE, SEYMOUR, INDIANA PAGE 6A FRIDAY: STATE GOLF Thursday JUNE 15, 2000 Rain latitats golfers at state By ARVK00NTZ mmmmmn mm a i ber of the team to have played in the state tournament, and that was two years aga-wheirhe was a freshmanr Graessle said the course is in excellent shape. "The greens are soft, which is weird for this course because they are usually hard as rocks." "There was a lot of pressure," Moore said. "It's one of the hardest courses I've ever played. There is a lot of trouble off the tees, and the greens are fast, and when the wind starts picking up you get real uncomfortable over your shots." Spray, a freshman, said he enjoyed having the opportunity to play in the state tournament. "I was playing real well, and then (after the rain delay) when I went back out I struggled the rest of the day." Schepman said he felt like he got off to a good start.
"The first five holes I played really well. I made a couple of nice sand saves, which helped me, but then play stopped, I got cold for a little bit, and made bogey' on my first hole and on my third hole. The delay kind of hurt me." The leaders after the first round are Columbia City's Mike Schumaker, Warren Central's Justin Wenger and South Bend Riley's Kevin Wiseman with rounds of 1. over-par 73. Tribune photo by Arv Koontz Seymour's Ben Moore tracks the path of his ball during the state golf finals Wednesday at Prestwick Country Club.
Moore and most of his Owls teammates were unable to finish their rounds because of rain. us. We should be somewhere close to par on par fives. "Once we went back out after the rain delay it was extremely windy and the conditions got tough so I thought the scores would be a little bit higher than normal." Graessle is the only mem Executive Sports Editor AVON The "rain man was the winner of the first day of competition of the Indiana High School state golf Wednesday at Prest- wick Country Club. Play was suspended from 11:30 a.m.
until 1:20 p.m., and again at 5:24 p.m. because of the, weather. The tournament resumed at 8:30 a.m. this morning. Only three and 36 of the 126 golfers, completed their rounds Wednesday.
The only Seymour golfer to complete 18 holes Wednesday was Matt Meyer, who shot 42-4688. Bud Graessle and Blake Schepman shot 38, while Ben Moore and Shane Spray shot 42 on the front nine, and none were able to complete their rounds before play was suspended. "I got a little rusty after the delay," Meyer said. "It was exciting to be at the state tournament this year. It's a pretty tough course.
The greens are kind of long and are fast, and there are more hills." Only Evansville North (303), Zionsville (311) and Bloomington South (320) completed their team play Wednesday: r-: Seymour shot 160 on the front nine, and coach Bob IFIaySitae By ADAM R. KNAPP Tribune Sports Writer Seymour's Trent Hillenburg grew up watching players like Lyle Alzado and Brian Bos worth on "NFL Films Presents." The dramatic voice and theatrical presentation of the "Monsters of the Gridiron" prompted him to play football. "I liked watching the theatrics of the hole things," said Hillenburg, who's current favorite players are the Minnesota Vikings' Randy Moss and John Randall. In the college ranks Hillenburg follows the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Northwestern Wildcats. This fall he joins those ranks as a member of the Butler Bulldogs.
"They have a beautiful stadium," Hillenburg said. "They're Division and I really like the coaching Krietenstein said he figures the Owls will score between 320 and 325. "I wasn't pleased having three 42s, but our two 38s were pretty good," Krietenstein said. "On the front, we played the two par 5s 10 over and that is very unusual for is veirj staff. And it's close to home." The 6-foot secondary education major, who's played foot ball for MiilMihmw eight years, will play on either the defense or offensive line, or both for the Bulldogs.
"It doesn't matter where I play as long as I get to play," he said. Playing time, a surety for Hillenburg as a member of the Owls, is a source of concern at the collegiate level. "Everybody in high school, grew up together," Hillenburg said. "In college it's going to be 100 guys com' peting to play on Saturday and the athletes are going to be so much better." As a senior Hillenburg was constantly flanked on ARV KOONTZ Executive Sports Editor Prestwick's 10th hole daunting AVON Playing the 10th hole in the state high school golf tournament at Prestwick Country Club is a definitely a challenge for members of the Seymour High School golf team and something they are not exactly looking forward to again any time soon. The hole is one-of-a-kind as the tee is at a much higher level than the green.
The hole is a 330-yard, par 4. Most golfers choose to hit an iron off the tee. It is 210 yard from the green to the cliff. The upper level and low-: er level is divided by a 150-foot cliff that is unplayable. If the golfer doesn't hit his tee shot long enough, he can not see the green when he hits his second shot.
"I think its kind of a joke," Bud Graessle said. "I think on every hole you should have a chance to hit your driver or No. 3 wood. That hole offers nothing but a 4 to 5 iron off the tee. "It's pretty unique." Owls coach Bob Krietenstein said, "It's a tough hole for a high school tournament for kids to play.
We played it (Tuesday in practice) with quite a bit of wind, and today when we played it there was more wind and it is an extremely difficult hole. "You can take a six or seven there very easily. Its a tight driving hole where you have to hit an iron off the tee, and if you get it up in the wind it can go out of bounds." Krietenstein said near the green there are water hazards on the right and out-of-bounds in the left. "It's a weird hole," Ben Moore said. "I had a longer club on my second shot than I did off the tee.
"It's a tough hole, especially when you don't play well on the front and you're thinking about playing it to start the back nine." Matt Meyer said he played a hole on a course in South Carolina where he had to hit off a cliff, but he has never played a par 4 like this hole at Prestwick. "You don't want to go over thefcliff," Meyer said. "Usually you have a blind second shot and its hard to get it close no matter where you are, and that's what makes it tough." Blake Schepman called the hole 'deceiving' because the edge of the cliff to the green isn't as far as it appears. Shane Spray said it is a tough par 4. "Most people don't hit enough club (off the tee), and hold back and then its a longer shot to the green.
The drop is really severe. I think you need to use one club less." Briefly Coming events A pre-Fourth of July Men's Softball Tournament will be held Saturday and Sunday at Capital Field in North The entry fee is $150 per team, with the winning team receiving free entry into the Fourth of July Men's Softball Tournament at Capital Field For more information call Diana Daeger at 392-0835. The deadline to register for the Fourth of July Men's and Women's Softball Tournaments at Capjtal Field in North Vernon is Monday for the women's and June 26 for the men's. The women's tournament will start on June 24 and 25 and end with the championship game on July 4. The men's tournament will be played July 1 and 2 with the championship game July 4 after the women's championship game.
Entry fee for both tournaments is $175. For more information call Diana Daeger at 392-0835. turn the page Ten years ago, golf finished with a 36-hole 636 score at the state championships at Prestwick Country Club to finish second in the state behind Carmefs 34. Five years ago, Hakeem Olajuwon scored 35 points and the Houston Rockets earned their second-straight NBA title by sweeping the Orlando Magic, 113-101. Filling tribute To a command of "ready, aim, fire," the world's best golfers whacked balls over the jagged coastline at the 18th and into the Pacific.
A perfect way to honor a champion, Payne Stewart. The two groups hjt the balls, into Carmel Bay, the second one making sure to clear the man who paddled up in a 6mall boat, tipped his cap and shouted, "We love you, Payne." The 1999 U.S. Open winner died in an October plane crash, leaving behind a void that family and friends were still struggling to cope with as they gathered Wednesday on the 18th green at Pebble Peach, one of the most hallowed spots in golf. Playoff trivia Who was the last team to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win an NBA Finals series? You can drop of your answers at The Tribune drop-box at 1215 E.Tipton Seymour, or you can email us at adamknapplink.tree-dom.com. The answer will appear in Friday's Tribune.
The answer to Wednes-. day's question is besides the San Antonio Spurs in 1999, the Chicago Bulls were the ast team to win an NBA championship after reaching fheir first NBA Finals. I Bonus: The city of Chicago had been to the Finals before. In the first-ever NBA-Finals in 1947, the Chicago Stags lost 4-1 tojhe Philadelphia Warriors. college Vital Stats Name: Trent Hillenburg School: Seymour Sports: Football and track.
Parents: Tim and Cindy Hillenburg Sibling: Erika Hillenburg Future Plans: Attend Butler University and major in secondary education. mour and that's due to the great assistants we had and the coaches," he said. "Our lineman average 220 pounds. There's no way we should beat people like we do. "Jeffersonville is much more physically talented than us, but we beat them because everybody works together.
Games are won and lost before you get on the field in the weight room and in running and in preparations. Working together is like the last part of it." meiifi step defense by fellow seniors Kyle Ahlbrand, Derek Bohm and D.J. Henkle. "I couldn't imagine playing without those guys beside me," he said. The camaraderie of high school football is another difference Hillenburg said he will miss.
"The best thing (about playing football for Seymour) was the team meetings before every practice," he said. "We'd go to somebody's house and watch game tapes, and a bunch of us would go and watch the volleyball wherever they played on Saturdays. "It was basically one big family. I spent more time with guys on my team than with family I live with." The family atmosphere and the dedication to football are what Hillenburg enjoyed most in his years at Bulleit Stadium. "We've always had a good tradition of winning at Sey- Pacers come nip just short in OT ASSOCIATED PRESS Of all the stuff that makes Kobe Bryant a star the slam dunk title, the numerous commercial endorsem*nts, the girls who go gah-gah in his presence the only thing missing was a heroic basketball story to make it all matter.
And this was the night for it to happen as Bryant, coming back after missing most of Game 2 and all of Game 3 with a sprained ankle, had 28 points in 47 minutes to give the Lakers the victory in what was easily the best game of the series. O'Neal added 36 points and 21 rebounds and Robert Horry scored 17 off the bench for Los Angeles, which shot 52 percent from the field. Miller scored 19 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Rik Smits had 24 and Jalen Rose had 14. O'Neal had a chance to win it in regulation but missed an 8-foot jump hook at the buzzer after Travis Best had shot an airball on Indiana's final possession of the fourth quarter. -It went into overtime tied 104-104," and the Lakers scored six of the next eight points.
Miller then hit a fallaway 3-pointer, O'Neal had a layup, and O'Neal then went over Smits' back to pick up his sixth foul with 2:33 left. Coach Phil Jackson stood with his mouth agape, staring at the referee who called it, Steve Javie, and the Pacers immediately got the ball to Smits for a jump hook Bryant answered with a 23-footer to give the Lakers a 114-111 lead. Smits hit another jump hook and again Bryant answered with a jumper. Miller made two free throws and Glen Rice tossed up an airball at the other end an airball that landed right in the hands of Brian Shaw for a chippy that made it 118-115. Smits made two from the line with 28.1 seconds left, and Bryant rebounded Shaw's miss and converted it with 5.9 seconds left.
The Pacers scored one more point on a foul shot after the Lakers committed a foul before the ball was inbounded, but Miller's last-gasp attempt hit the front of the rim and bounced over the backboard as the final buzzer sounded. Now the Pacers must try to become the first team ever to recover from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. Game 5 is Friday night. f- Koontz is the Executive Sports Editor for The Tribune. You can reach him at 522-4871, ext.
223. Or you can email him at arvkoontzlink.freedom.c om. Associated Press Indiana's Reggie Miller lunges for a ball against Los Angeles' Brian Shaw during Wednesday's NSA Finals game at Conseco Field-house. The Lakers won 120-118 in overtime..
