Nolan Eccles, Normal U-High claim boys golf state titles
- Joey Wright
- Oct 11
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 11
NORMAL — Normal U-High’s boys golf team celebrated its homecoming weekend in the best possible fashion on their home course and Dunlap Eagles junior Nolan Eccles soared above the rest of the field to win Class 2A boys golf state titles on Saturday.
Eccles was in a class of his own across two days of golf at Weibring Golf Club, carding a 2-under 69 in the opening round of the state tournament and a 3-under 68 in the final round to win the individual title by three strokes over Althoff Catholic’s Carson Tribout and Normal U-HIgh’s Brody Allen.
Eccles finished with a collective 137, becoming the first boys golfer from Central Illinois to win a state title since Peoria Christian’s Weston Walker in 2019. He topped a leaderboard that included Allen (140) and Washington’s Gavin Schreurs (141) in the top five.
But Allen’s Pioneers had the last laugh as a team.
The two Central Illinois powers duked it out coming down the stretch in front of a throng of fans making the short drive to support. Allen’s 36-hole total of 140 led the Pioneers with Jack Quinn (148), Myles Mitchell (156), Judah Dalton (157) and Dawson Freeman (157) factoring in as well.
Meanwhile, Washington made a spirited run at what would have been their first boys golf state title in program history with Schreurs, Court Bohanan (148), Dom Yocum (154), Aiden Foster (158).
Both those groups of four combined to shoot 596, meaning that the fifth-best score from each team would be used to determine a champion. Dalton and Freeman’s mark beat out Washington’s Gage Garrison’s total of 161 to take home the title.
“A lot of us have been working on this for so many years, and we're just so excited to finally have gotten it done,” Allen said. “It meant so much to us that we were able to get it done this year.”
“It was time to get it done after coming up a little short last year,” Quinn said. “
The Pioneers’ deep lineup, boasting six golfers who were all able to factor into their win, knew that just one shot from any of them could have been the difference in winning state.
They delivered on head coach Chris Headrick’s message.
“That’s what it takes to be in it,” Headrick said. “It was that you guys have to stay in it the whole time. You got to take the punches.There were going to be punches thrown at you today and you're going to feel like you keep getting knocked down and you got to get right back up every single time.”
The win marked U-High's first state title since 2016 and the 11th championship in program history. That is second most all-time among IHSA boys golf programs, only behind Winnetka New Trier, who won its 12th Class 3A state title at The Den at Fox Creek in Bloomington on Saturday.
“Hats off to Washington, all year long, that is such a good golf team,” Headrick said. “They’re really good kids and our kids love playing with them and they played so good this week.”
Allen finished second overall to cap an outstanding junior season. He shot a 72 in the first round on Friday, using three back-nine birdies to keep him near the top of the leaderboard.
His birdie putts on holes 1 and 2 on Saturday both lipped out, but that didn’t discourage the Pioneers’ ace. His first birdie came on the par-5 sixth hole after a great bunker shot, which he believed “jump-started” his round, and he added a birdie on the par-4 ninth to shoot 35 on his opening nine.
“I just knew with how well I was playing, I knew I was in there if I stayed patient,” Allen said.
Allen had made hardly any putts over 10 feet for the whole tournament until the par-3 11th, where he sunk a 20-foot uphill right-to-left breaker to a birdie. With pressure mounting on the back nine, he birdied the par-4 15th as well.
“My mindset was just hang around [and] get myself in position to where I didn't have to birdie the last hole,” Allen said. “I just had to hit a couple really good shots and make some big pars to get it done.”
“It was going to come down to 16, 17, and 18 for Brody and Dawson, at least one of them, to shut the door,” Headrick said. “I looked at Brody on 17 and said ‘It’s time to shut the door.’”
Allen finished his back nine bogey-free and the rest of his teammates closed strong too. After a double-bogey on the par-4 10th, Quinn parred his last eight holes, Mitchell made multiple birdies to help offset several bogeys and Dalton, Freeman and Michael Ocheltree kept big numbers off the card.
“We knew that there's a lot of movement that can happen on these three closing holes so I think that's kind of when we maybe kind of felt like there was a little shift,” Headrick said.
“I think our guys stepped in when the time was right and stepped up in the moment,” Quinn said.
It’d be impossible to say that home-course advantage wasn’t a factor in the Pioneers’ win. Weibring Golf Club is located just a half-mile away from the high school and has been a winning haven for both their boys and girls teams over the years.
“It's very nice to have it be our home course, because other players, they don't know what's the right miss,” Quinn said. “As someone that plays here all the time. I'm like, ‘If I go here, I can get up and down pretty easy, or I might notice the read of this putt.”
On the first day of practice before the season, Headrick asked the Pioneers what their goals were. The team paused with somewhat puzzled looks on their faces before saying, “Winning a state championship.”
The Pioneers have a bright future with Allen, Quinn, Freeman, Ocheltree and Dalton all returning next year.
And at the first practice in 2026, Headrick expects a bit of deja vu.
“There will be a time next year during the first day of practice, before we hit a single shot, and I'll ask them again of their goals.
They're all gonna look at me dumbfounded and say ‘Win a state championship.’”
Schreurs closed his illustrious high school career for Washington in fourth place overall, shooting a one-under 70 on Saturday. Bohanon finished in 11th after a 74 in his second round, a score that was matched by teammate Dominic Yocum, who finished in 31st. Aiden Foster’s 78
rounded out the Panthers’ four second-round scores.
Eccles defends first-round lead en route to state title
Eccles had to do one of the hardest things that the game of golf has to offer in order to win the individual state title: go to sleep atop the leaderboard.
The Dunlap junior came into Saturday’s second round tied for the lead with Wheaton Academy’s Owen Coniaris after shooting a two-under 69.
But Eccles showed what champions are made of, making just one bogey on Saturday and making three birdies on the back nine while Coniaris never fully recovered from two double-bogeys on his front nine.
The former didn’t leave room for much dramatics, winning by three strokes over Tribout and Allen.
“It means the world to me,” Eccles said. “[This is] super important to me and this was the most serious I’ve took a golf tournament.
“I feel like my short game day was super good, I just had a good attitude the whole time,” he added. “I was just super patient today and I had some trouble with that in the past. Everything was kind of just locked in today so I felt confident.”
While Eccles didn’t have the same type of home-course advantage Normal U-High did, his familiarity with the track gave him a big boost to close out the win. Last year, he tied for seventh in the Class 2A state finals at Weibring.
“I played some tournaments there in the summer so that always helped,” Eccles said. “I’ve played the course about 20 times. We had a practice round with my dad and friends so that helped too. I knew what was going on with the course.”
Eccles birdied the par-5 second and bogeyed the par-3 fourth, parring the rest of the holes on the front nine for a 36 at the turn. That stretch included a fantastic up-and-down for par on the par-3 seventh after a missed green, mishit chip shot and a 20-foot put from the fringe to avoid a bogey.
Shortly afterward, Eccles — one of three Dunlap golfers to advance as an individual from the Class 2A Bloomington Sectional at Prairie Vista Golf Course — started to put the nail in the coffin with an eight-foot birdie putt on hole 10.
On the par-three 11th, he stuck his tee shot to three feet for an easy birdie conversion and birdied the short par-four 15th after hitting a booming drive.
Eccles’ margin of victory could have been larger if not for several lip-outs for birdies on the final few holes.
“It was always just to win by as many as possible,” Eccles said of his mindset heading into Saturday. “Honestly, I would say my end goal was to shoot 65 and win by a lot, but I’m happy with how it ended.”
And like the Pioneers, Eccles could very well be back next year too. He hopes to use his newfound hardware as a springboard into his senior season and to gain traction in the college recruiting process.
“Hopefully this will give me a head start,” Eccles said. “I’m excited for the future and we’ll see what happens.”
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