Splish, splash: Raiders coach takes dip in Lake Springfield to celebrate girls golf team’s state bid

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Quincy Notre Dame girls golf coach Jason Knuffman made a promise to his team prior to Monday’s Class 1A Rochester Sectional at Lincoln Greens Golf Course.

If the Raiders qualified for the state tournament, he would jump in Lake Springfield.

Knuffman stayed true to his word and took a plunge in the lake after the Raiders’ top four golfers fired a 338 to secure second in the sectional and earn a state berth. QND finished one shot ahead of Breese Central — the final state qualifier — and seven clear of Carlyle in fourth.

“What better way to celebrate than to jump in a perfectly good lake?” Knuffman said.

Knuffman came up with the idea himself as a way of relaxing the Raiders’ golfers on a pressure-packed day.

“I was in their shoes many many years ago. I know how nerve-wracking it is. Heck, I was nervous today,” Knuffman said. “This group really thought about it, and they were like, ‘We want to see him get wet.’”

Raiders junior Belle Boudreau was impressed with Knuffman’s commitment to his promise.

“Personally, I was going to tell him he didn’t have to jump, but the rest of my team was pretty adamant in having him jump,” Boudreau said. “He’s a man of his word.”

Freshman Natalie Druffel was going to make sure Knuffman got in the lake one way or another.

“Let’s put it this way, if he wouldn’t have jumped, I would have pushed him in,” Druffel said. “I wanted to see it happen.”

Before Knuffman went for a swim, Boudreau, Druffel, senior Meredith Eversman and freshman Nancy Scholz all shot 90 or lower. Boudreau set a new personal record with a 5-over 75 and finished fifth out of 110 golfers and just one shot off a four-way tie for first.

“Belle had a career day today, and she carried the team like the leader she is,” Knuffman said. “I tried to just watch her from a distance. She gets all the credit. I can’t take any credit for it.

“We expect that out of her. She’s our leader. But this was a special show she put on today.”

By posting a career-low score and leading the Raiders to a team state berth, Boudreau avoided the fate she had at last year’s Roxana Sectional. She finished in a tie for the 16th and the final state qualifying position, but lost a three-way playoff.

At this year’s sectional, the top 10 individual scores from players not on state qualifying teams advanced, meaning that even if the Raiders had not scored low enough to go to state as a squad, Boudreau’s fifth-place finish would have put her comfortably in the state tournament.

Over an hour after she finished her round, Boudreau and her teammates followed along with the galleries for two playoffs happening simultaneously.

The four players tied for the lowest individual score — Carlyle’s Abby Steinkamp, Father McGivney’s Sarah Hyten and Sacred Heart Griffin’s Maddy Johnston and Izzy Hassebrock — vied for the sectional championship in a playoff that Steinkamp won by making birdie on No. 1, the first playoff hole.

In a playoff that started on the adjacent 10th hole, Steeleville’s Lynlee Rubach, Okawville’s Bella Muniz and Nashville’s Brynn Stiegman battled for the 10th and final state qualifying position. On No. 9 — the fourth playoff hole — Rubach made a 25-foot birdie putt from just off the front of the green to win the playoff.

“I was so glad when I was watching those other girls play in the playoff that that wasn’t me,” Boudreau said. “I like watching playoffs, especially when I don’t have to play in them.”

Eversman shot a 4-over 40 on the front nine and grinded out a 44 on the back nine to finish in a tie for 19th on the individual leaderboard.

“Meredith was very steady on the front nine, and she just held it together on the back nine,” Knuffman said.

Having won the Class 1A Hamilton Regional, Eversman was in the final group featuring players from sectional qualifying teams. This resulted in quite the crowd surrounding the 18th green as she finished her round with an up-and-down par from 10 yards in front of the green.

“It was definitely a little weird. I’m not used to that,” Eversman said of the crowd of some three dozen spectators. “I’m used to my dad and like two other parents there maybe.”

Druffel and Scholz each rebounded from 15-over 51s on the front nine to post a 38 and 39, respectively, on the closing nine.

“They’ve both played a lot of golf. They’ve never played a lot of golf like this before though,” Knuffman said. “The first nine holes, I think those nerves came out a little bit, trying to do too much. I told them at the turn, ‘You’ve been playing this game a long time, and you’re able to have that stamina. Call upon those skills that you have deeply rooted in your brain, that great hand-eye coordination.’ That just came out the second nine, which was awesome to see.”

While Scholz wasn’t over the moon about her 20-over 90, she still has plenty of fuel left in the tank.

“I didn’t play my best today, but I’m saving it for state,” Scholz said.

Druffel said the freshmen’s turnarounds on the back nine were pivotal to the Raiders locking up their third state appearance in the last four seasons. QND finished 11th in Class A in 2021 and ninth in 2022.

“We both bounced back, and if one of us didn’t, we might not have qualified,” Druffel said.

The ear-to-ear grin Knuffman had on his face after emerging from Lake Springfield might not go away until after the state tournament Oct. 18 and 19 at Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur. 

“It doesn’t get much better than this,” Knuffman said.