MAKENA — Seabury Hall sophomore Tyler Loree got a lesson in just how competitive the Maui Interscholastic League individual golf tournament is last season, largely from Anson Cabello.

Loree also had a close-up seat to see the prowess of the Maui Prep team.

On Saturday, Loree sent a message to the MIL with an impressive run to the league individual crown.

Loree shot a 3-over 75 at Makena Golf Course to finish four rounds at four different courses at 6-under 280, five strokes in front of Kamehameha Maui senior Cabello and Maui Prep sophomore Chris Salem, who claimed the silver medal on the tiebreaker.

It was a sweet win for the 16-year-old Loree, who lost a one-shot lead going to the final round last year when he came up one shot short of Cabello, who is headed to the University of Hawaii on a golf scholarship this fall.

“It came down to the wire, Anson hit a lot of good shots, he’s a great player, he played great,” said Loree, who moved to Maui just before entering high school last year.

“This means a lot to me, you know, last year I came up one short,” Loree said. “It feels good to capitalize this year. I played well. I feel like I’m playing well and I’m looking forward to moving on to the states.”

Among those watching Loree close the deal on his first MIL title was Sam Cyr, a King Kekaulike graduate, two-time NAIA champion for Point Loma Nazarene and former pro on the Asian Tour who is now a top-flight golf instructor who works with Loree. Seabury Hall coach Jake Grodzinsky is also a key part of Loree’s team.

“I feel like my game’s in a good spot,” Loree said. “I’ve got to fix a few things up before (states), but I’m excited.”

Loree had a 10-shot cushion on Cabello going into the final round and 12 shots on Salem — Cabello got close a couple times before Loree held him off and Salem shot the best round among the boys, a 4-under 68 on Saturday.

Cabello tipped his cap to Loree and said he is ready for another battle at the state tournament May 11-12 on Kauai.

Cabello has some unfinished business at the state tournament — he was in contention after one round last year before he had to withdraw from the final round at Kaanapali after he tested positive for COVID.

“Tyler’s really good, I mean I waited until the last day to play decent, but my goal today was — Tyler was so far ahead — just get the tournament under par and I did that,” he said. “So, it’s the small victories that matter.”

Salem was a scoring member of the MPA state championship team last year that ran away with the title by 38 strokes. He finished fourth individually at state last year, one shot behind Loree. MPA teammate Dillon Jonke was the individual runner-up at state last year.

“I definitely left some shots out there on the back nine, I mean, I missed a 6-footer for birdie and I was only 130 (yards) away on the par-5, (No.) 15,” Salem said. “I could have made a run, but I felt like I played really well out there. I felt like I picked my targets and I felt like I was committed to every shot that I was taking.”

Cabello missed a chance to play a practice round at Makena on Wednesday because he was busy earning one of two U.S. Open final qualifying spots during a local qualifier at The Dunes at Maui Lani.

“I will be honest, after I finished I didn’t think I was going to qualify,” Cabello said. “The conditions seemed very scorable, but I was told that I should stick around because right afterwards I was just going to shoot out to Makena, maybe take a look at the course, but they said, ‘You should stick around.’ I stuck around and I got to qualify.”

Baldwin sophomore Anessa Riglos broke away from a tie with freshman teammate Ava Kawahara going into the final round to claim the MIL girls crown. Riglos fired the round of the day, a 6-under 66, to finish at 11-over 297 for the tournament, seven shots in front of Kawahara.

Last season, Riglos led after the first two rounds and was tied with eventual champion Ariya Soldwisch after three rounds.

Riglos left no doubt on Saturday.

“I feel like it was worth all the hard work, I put in a lot of work before coming to the tournament, especially with my putting, and today it showed,” Riglos said. “Today was definitely my lifetime best (round). I made a lot of putts, a lot of putts I didn’t expect — I’m happy with the outcome.”

Kawahara was also pleased with his silver medal — her 73 came in her first round at Makena.

Kawahara has played a lot of junior golf with Maui Prep’s Sacha Salem, who was also in the final girls group and shot 81–326 to claim the bronze medal.

“It was good, we also have great teammates, all the team,” Kawahara said. “I’ve played with Sacha a lot, so I was comfortable and calm. I’ve got a lot of confidence going into the state tournament. I think I did good, I didn’t know I could do this well.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

• MIL GOLF INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Saturday’s Final Round • At Makena Golf Course

(Note: Previous rounds contested at Kaanapali Kai, Waiehu and King Kamehameha)

BOYS

Tyler Loree, Seabury 67-67-71-75–280 -6

Chris Salem, Maui Prep 66-78-73-68–285 -1

Anson Cabello, Kamehameha Maui 71-71-73-70–285 -1

Renner Chumley, Maui Prep 73-76-73-73–295 +9

Dillon Jonke, Maui Prep 72-78-76-69–295 +9

Luke Kahuhu, Kamehameha Maui 73-76-74-76–299 +13

Ben Cafferio, Baldwin 71-76-79-76–302 +16

Landon Long, Maui Prep 75-79-75-77–306 +20

Hunter Kitagawa, Maui High 78-78-73-78–307 +21

Daniel Arashiro Garcia, Seabury 75-79-80-74–308 +22

Crew Granum, Seabury 86-79-81-73–319 +33

Owen Hegrenes, Lahainaluna 81-81-82-77–321 +35

Joa Navarro, Lahainaluna 80-81-83-86–330 +44

Brady Yokouchi, Baldwin 85-80-84-81–330 +44

Arshayah Marshall, Maui Prep 82-90-86-79–337 +51

Caulford Thunder, KS Maui 86-84-83-85–338 +52

Eric Hwang, Baldwin 90-84-86-81–341 +55

Gavin Melikidse, Lahainaluna 85-82-91-85–343 +57

Kai Shivley, Maui Prep 92-85-84-82–343 +57

Ano Motulalo, Maui High 86-94-81-84–345 +59

Kaohu Mata-Goldmann, KS Maui 87-85-85-90–347 +61

Kingzlee Min, Kamehameha Maui 99-82-84-83–348 +62

TJ Hehemann, Maui Prep 91-88-90-82–351 +65

Arjun Patel, Maui Prep 88-88-88-89–353 +67

Nathan Maier, Baldwin 86-85-93-90–354 +68

Carter Bozich, Maui Prep 86-86-91-91–354 +68

Jarred Peros, Maui High 91-91-85-95–362 +76

Leo McKuin, Seabury 85-98-90-91–364 +78

Kalaheo Sakamoto, KS Maui 90-92-95-91–368 +82

Tainoa Buenconsejo, Lahainaluna 96-87-94-97–374 +88

GIRLS

Anessa Riglos, Baldwin 76-84-71-66–297 +11

Ava Kawahara, Baldwin 73-83-75-73–304 +18

Sacha Salem, Maui Prep 83-78-84-81–326 +40

Tehya Chumley, Maui Prep 80-91-84-77–332 +46

Sofia Malari, Maui Prep 84-86-82-81–333 +47

Jasmyn Yun, Maui High 86-87-83-80–336 +50

Kalia Kaneta, Maui High 88-84-83-82–337 +51

Jacelyn Yun, Maui High 83-80-91-84–338 +52

Kylee Dee, King Kekaulike 88-85-86-80–339 +53

C. Vannatta Hamasaki, KS Maui 97-88-87-83–355 +69