Jack Stuckwisch was named Trinity Lutheran’s most valuable golfer when the team had a sectional dinner following the sectional in Bloomington.

Stuckwisch, a freshman, played No. 1 for Trinity and led the Cougars in the sectional by shooting 91.

“Stuckwisch was well ahead of our group as far as his scores, week in and week out. That young man also has a fantastic attitude. Jack always has a smile on his face. He is always lifting up his teammates,” Trinity head coach Todd Jack said.

“He is a true leader in the essence of being the most valuable player,” he said. “How I always define the most valuable player is when they’re absent, you know it. There were a few times he was absent from the starting lineup for a particular match, and when he was absent, we noticed.”

Jack said Stuckwisch was a good leader.

“He was most valuable as far as cohesiveness to the team and leading the team,” he said. “If he was there, the team felt like they could breathe easier. If he wasn’t there, you could definitely tell the team felt like there was more pressure on each individual to perform.”

Stuckwisch’s low round, 88, was in the Cougar Cup at Shadowood Golf Course on April 29. Trinity junior Andrew Lemming shot a hole-in-one on the second hole in that tournament.

Wylie Jones received the Cougar Award, and Jeremiah Clay was named most improved.

The Cougar Award is based on sportsmanship.

“I define that as someone who is a diplomat at Trinity. You are exemplifying the best qualities and attributes that a Trinity Cougar is expected to work under,” Jack said. “That young man always had a smile on his face, even when things weren’t going well for him. He would move on to the next hole, and when you caught up with him, he was telling you about this good shot that he had or digging himself out of some tricky situation.”

Jack said Jones always had a good attitude. Jones, who played No. 2 for the Cougars, shot 51 on the front nine in the sectional and 52 on the back nine for 103, which was a personal best for him.

Jack said this was Clay’s first year playing golf.

“He had some hand-me-down clubs and bag and decided he’d come out there and spend some time with his buddies, and through the adversity you find in golf, he kept a smile on his face and showed he was just out there to learn and improve,” Jack said. “He didn’t put too much pressure on himself to be perfect at everything and allowed himself to actually have room to grow quite a bit, so he was definitely the most improved.”

The only senior on the team was Gabe Lorenz.

Jack said the team made a lot of improvement from early April to the sectional.

“There was a lot of golf played from a lot of inexperienced golfers,” he said. “We weren’t hanging our hat on winning anything, winning any titles this year, but we can definitely tell this group can maybe push for some individual sectional (advancement) next year.”