Tallen James leads all Chester golfers in opening four matches
BY JIM BEERS
The Chester High School Boys’ Golf Team has already played two weeks of the 2026 season and are now in Week 3. Senior Tallen James has established himself as the lead Chester golfer and has led his squad in all four of their early matches.
The CHS Boys’ Golf Team 12 golfers including 5 seniors, 3 juniors, 2 sophomores and two new freshmen. Seniors include Tallen James, Trevin Eggemeyer, Logan McDonald, Logan Brace, and Kross Jany. Juniors include Alden Davitz, Logan Springston, and Kendall Krieg. Sophomores include Preston Liefer and Jack Luthy. Freshmen include Jake Dunn and Carter Kennedy. The YellowJackets are coached by Clayton Andrews.
The 2026 season opened on the road at Waterloo Gibault Tuesday August 18. It was a triangular match with hosts Waterloo Gibault Hawks. Chester YellowJackets, and Steeleville competing.
Five strokes separated the 1st and 2nd Place finishers. Waterloo Gibault won the event with a score of 160 strokes. CHESTER YellowJackets placed second with 165 strokes. Steeleville Warriors finished 3rd with 175 strokes.
Individual results included Tallen James 1st (Chester, 35 strokes, Medalist), Joseph Alvarez 2nd (Waterloo Gibault, 36 strokes), Gus Schmidt 3rd (Waterloo Gibault, 38 strokes), Caleb Gladson 4th (Steeleville, 40 strokes), Nash Bradley 5th Tie (Waterloo Gibault, 43 strokes), Garrett Patton 5th Tie (Waterloo Gibault, 43 strokes), Jack Luthy 5th Tie (Chester, 43 strokes), Kross Jany Tie (Chester, 43 strokes), Trevin Eggemeyer 9th Tie (Chester, 44 strokes), Alden Davitz 9th Tie (Chester, 44 strokes), and Carter Kennedy 16th (Chester, 47th).
Wednesday August 19 the Jacket Boys traveled to Red Bud for a dual match. The Musketeers won that contest 143-165.
Chester golfers finished in the following order:
Tallen James (Sr.) 5th, 38
Jack Luthy (So.) 8th, 41
Kross Jany (Sr.) 10th, 42
Carter Kennedy (Fr.), 11th, 44
Trevin Eggemeyer (Sr.) 13th TIE, 45
Alden Davitz (Jr.), 13th TIE, 45
The YellowJackets returned home to the Chester Country Club the next afternoon, Thursday August 20 to host a quadrangular match. Participating teams included Tamms (Egyptian), Cobden, Chester, and Zeigler (Zeigler Royalton).
Team scores and places are as follow:
CHESTER 1st, 165
Zeigler-Royalton, 2nd, 170
Cobden, 3rd, 209
Tamms-Egyptian, 4th, 246
Chester’s Tallen James earned the title of Medalist with his lowest score.
Individual Chester scores include Tallen James (Sr.), 1st 35; Alden Davits (Jr.), 2nd, 41; Trevin Eggemeyer (Sr.), 5th, 43; Jack Luthy (So.), 9thy TIE, 46; Carter Kennedy (Fr.), 9th TIE, 46; and Kross Jany (Sr.), 13th, 47.
Week 2 came to a conclusion Saturday August 22 at the Steeleville Warrior Invitational. This event was the biggest match of the early 2026 season with eight teams competing. Those included Freeburg, Chester, Zeigler-Royalton, Trico, Sparta, DuQuoin, Pinckneyville, and Steeleville.
Team standings included:
1st, Freeburg, 313
2nd, Trico, 352
3rd, CHESTER, 376
4th, DuQuoin, 377
5th, Sparta, 382
6th, Pinckneyville, 392
7th, Zeigler-Royalton, 394
8th, Steeleville, 406
Chester finishes included: Tallen James (sr.), 9th, 87; Trevin Eggemeyer (Sr.), 12th, 89; Kross Jany (Sr.), 20th, 98; Jack Luthy (So.), 27th, 102; Carter Kennedy (FR.), 31st, 106; and Alden Davitz (Jr.), 45th, 122. This match concluded a long, hot, busy Week 2 which included four matches in five days!
There was only one match scheduled for Week 2. Chester was scheduled to host Nashville, Okawville and Red Bud, Tuesday September 1, however, due to extreme heat and humidity, that event was cancelled to protect the athletes.
Week 3 began Tuesday September 8 at Sparta. This was a triangular match featuring the Sparta Bulldogs, Chester YellowJackets, and the Freeburg Midgets.
Team standings included:
1st, Freeburg, 145
2nd, Sparta, 169
3rd, CHESTER, 170
The YellowJackets had five golfers compete. Their standings were as follow. Tallen James (Sr.), 6th, 41; Jack Luthy (S0.), 10th TIE, 43; Trevin Eggemeyer (Sr.), 10th TIE, 43; Carter Kennedy (Fr.), 10th TIE, 43; and Alden Davitz (Jr.), 14th, 45.