Tri-Cities boys golf preview
Top area teams: Geneva, St. Charles North, St. Charles East, Batavia, Wheaton Academy, Marmion, Aurora Central Catholic, Kaneland, West Aurora, Aurora Christian.
Projected starters: Geneva: Bill Gregory, sr., Colin Lillibridge, jr., Adam Milano, sr., Brett Hassels, soph., Pat Cuscaden, jr., Matt Landry, sr.; St. Charles North: John Carroll, sr., Reghau Cherala, soph., Dan Shepherd, jr., Quint Barr, sr., Ryan DalDegan, jr., Jason McAlese, jr.; St. Charles East: Kyle Jacobs, soph., Sean Lenchner, sr., Keone Derain, fr., Connor McCadam, soph., Max Kelly, jr., Luke Molley, soph.; Batavia: Nathan Podraza, jr., Peter Rudd, jr., Billy Zwick, jr., Peter Karkus, sr., Matt Milauskas, sr., Emilo Tenuta, jr.; Wheaton Academy: Elio Vento, sr., Danny Gryfinski, jr.; Marmion: Matt Fazio, sr., Liam Creamer, jr., Ben Cole, sr., Zach Woytych, sr., Marshall Kanute, sr., Ricky Ansten, soph., Brett Koskinen, jr.; Aurora Central Catholic: Jack McNally, sr., Reed Tack, sr., Justin Prince, soph., Sean Harreld, soph., Ryan Baker, sr., Travis Exline, jr., Nathan Johnson, sr.; Kaneland: Troy Krueger, sr., Brody Kuhar, soph., Matt Youkovich, soph., Luke Kreitner, jr., Adam Grams, sr., Sean Glennon, jr.; West Aurora: Brendan Chavez, jr., Blake Kauffmann, jr., Jonathon Hunecke, jr., Alex Poissant, sr., Jackson Bailey, jr., Ottavio Dattolo, jr., Kyle Remeirs, jr., Chris English, sr., Ricky Rivera, sr. Aurora Christian: no information available.
Key Dates: Sept. 3, Buffalo Grove Invitational; Sept. 3, Fenton Invitational; Sept. 10, Batavia Invitational; Sept. 14, Aurora City Tournament; Sept. 21, Aurora Central Catholic Invitational; Sept. 24, Hinsdale Central Invitational; Week of Sept. 16, Conference championships; Oct. 1, Lake Park Invitational.
Predicted state champions: Class 1A, Mt. Carmel; Class 2A, Bellville Althoff Catholic; Class 3A: Lake Forest.
— Compiled by Kevin McGavinScouting report: After the first week of the boys golf season, there appear to be more questions than answers for several of the local programs. John Stock has been at the helm of traditional power St. Charles East for many years. #147;I#146;m the only coach East has known in 12 years,#148; Stock said. #147;I#146;ve never had a year in which (no starters were) back.#148; The Saints survived the brutally difficult Class 3A Naperville Central sectional to advance to state, but graduation losses and a disciplinary issue to the lone non-senior have forced Stock to completely reload. Veteran Geneva coach Bill Koehne has already voiced his feeling that his current collection, spearheaded by Gregory and Lillibridge, may be the deepest in his near three decades at the school. The Vikings defended their 19-team invitational on Thursday and placed third at the rugged Bartonville-Limestone tournament yesterday. Batavia has three juniors at the top of its lineup in Podraza, Rudd and Zwick. The fireworks in the River Division of the Upstate Eight Conference are undoubtedly too unpredictable to forecast as the critical dual meets approach. #147;I think it#146;s going to be a close one in the Upstate Eight Conference, at least in the River Division,#148; Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. Home-course advantage is invariably the wild card in prep golf, and winning on the road will make all the difference in regular-season positioning for the conference tournaments. #147;The league has been pretty tough,#148; St. Charles North coach Rob Prentiss said. #147;There are a lot of good golfers in both divisions. I think we#146;ve got a good mix of returning varsity players and some new guys to the varsity.#148; Shepherd was the North Stars#146; anchor at Geneva last week, while Carroll and Barr are the senior leaders. Lenchner, on the other hand, is the lone senior in the top seven for St. Charles East. #147;We only have one senior and one junior in the top seven,#148; Stock said. #147;I don#146;t know what we#146;re going to look like in six weeks. We#146;re going to have good days and bad days.#148; For the Saints to defend their conference championship much will be expected from their promising #8212; but largely untested #8212; underclass contingent. Kaneland is also a defending division champion with its victory at the inaugural Big XII East tournament last fall. #147;We weren#146;t necessarily the favorites going in last year,#148; Kaneland coach Mark Meyer said. #147;We just had a better day at the conference tournament.#148; With two-year No. 1 Hayley Guyton plying her trade for the women#146;s team at Illinois State University, Meyer has the difficult task of replacing not only his best player but also the emotional catalyst. Meyer will attempt to accomplish his goals with quantity. #147;I think we#146;re a little deeper than last year,#148; he said. Krueger will begin the season as the Knights#146; No. 1 player, and the infusion of talented underclassmen Kuhar and Youkovich at slots two and three has already produced desirable results. The Suburban Christian Conference should be yet another dogfight, with several teams eyeing postseason runs. Wheaton Academy, with St. Charles residents Vento and Gryfinski expected to provide essential depth, shared the Class 2A state title two years with Normal U-High. #147;We#146;re going to be stronger (than last season),#148; Wheaton Academy coach Bob Broman said. #147;I always look at our opponent being the golf course.#148; Fazzio, the only returning area state qualifier, is expected back for the Cadets in early September after having off-season shoulder surgery. #147;He#146;s on the DL (disabled list),#148; joked Marmion coach Doug Roberts. #147;We lost five seniors, so we#146;re hurting there. We need the remaining upper class to step up their game.#148; Creamer shined for Marmion at Geneva on Thursday. #147;We want to make it downstate as a team,#148; the junior said. Aurora Central is at the other end of the spectrum. Jim Parker returns five of his six starters from a year ago. In addition, the Chargers could very well be beneficiaries to a modification in the IHSA multiplier. Private schools with historically poor state showings were reclassified; Central will host a Class 1A regional this fall. McNally and Prince are returning Class 2A sectional qualifiers. #147;With all the returning experience we have, I have high hopes,#148; Parker said. #147;I see (competing at Class 1A) as a positive for us.#148; West Aurora coach Jay Bauer is yet another coach attempting to overhaul his lineup after heavy graduation losses. #147;Rivera is the only returning letter-winner,#148; Bauer said. #147;Before the (Limestone) tournament (this weekend), my expectations were to be in the top half of the DVC and advance at least one individual to the sectional.#148;