Conant golfer tallies school's first hole-in-one

When he was a sophomore, James B. Conant High School golfer Nikko Ganas finished the season as the second leading golfer across the Mid-Suburban League conference.

This year, he leads the conference in points, a feat which was aided by achieving the school's first competitive hole-in-one at the Bridges of Poplar Creek Aug. 28.

Ganas said he didn't realize he had a chance of making the 148-yard shot until he heard the reaction from others around the hole.

"I tried to play cut into the wind and see what happened," he said. "After that, I really wasn't watching it until I heard some of the other coaches saying it looked good."

The Cougars golf coach Scott Cieplik was at a nearby hole when he heard the crowd around Ganas cheer.

"I looked over and saw people cheering and holding their hands up," he said. "I ran over to see that Nikko also had his hands up. I knew at that point that he made the very difficult shot."

Cieplik said after speaking with his predecessors, he was able to confirm that no player had hit a hole-in-one in competition over the past 20 years, and found no evidence that one had been recorded.

Ganas said he could hardly believe the shot went in.

"I was initially in shock," he said. "It was several minutes until it dawned on me what happened."