Picture this: Mundelein nets NSC championship
Mundelein’s boys golf team, clad in red shirts and black caps, squeezed tightly together for a photo outside of Willow Glen Golf Club’s clubhouse.
A smiling Grant Heelan held the conference championship trophy.
The Mustangs then had to wait for Bret Cigelnik, who wasn’t properly attired.
The floppy-haired Cigelnik, already missing a “t” in “Bret,” was missing his team cap. As ordered by coach Todd Parola, Cigelnik found it and put on a red shirt, as well.
It took Cigelnik maybe 50 seconds to rejoin his happy teammates.
It took Mundelein’s golf team 50 years to win its first conference championship.
“This is big,” a grinning Parola said after his Mustangs shot a 309 in the North Suburban Conference tournament to edge Lake Forest by one stroke. “Good day. Good rounds. Tough day (windy, cool).”
Parola’s golfers had never won a county championship, either, in the high school’s 50 years of existence. The Mustangs accomplished that earlier in the season, and then Friday used four sub-80 rounds to best Lake Forest (310).
Vernon Hills (319), which boasted medalist Eric Swanson (4-over 75), finished third. Stevenson (326) and Zion-Benton (331) rounded out the top five.
Cigelnik paced Mundelein with a 76 and placed second ahead of Lake Forest’s Ian Mankoff, who also shot a 76.
“I didn’t have that good of a (regular) season,” Cigelnik said. “I had a couple of good matches, but overall I was kind of disappointed.”
The difference Friday?
“I think I realize that I need to play well if I want our team to win,” Cigelnik said.
Mundelein also counted 77s by Heelan (fourth) and David Krueger (fifth) and Derek Parola’s 79 (15th). The Mustangs didn’t need Chuck Mohr’s 81, but Mohr (20th) also earned all-conference honors.
“We were hoping the weather would maybe even the playing field and bring Lake Forest down to our level,” Todd Parola said. “We played pretty well.”
Rain and cool weather during the week wasn’t ideal for golfing, but the Mustangs were thankful their home course, Steeple Chase, allowed them to use the course every day.
“We practiced all week in the rain and wind,” Cigelnik said. “I think it helped out a lot today.”
Swanson, a 6-foot junior, became the second Vernon Hills golfer in as many years to win medalist honors in the NSC tourney. Last year, the Cougars’ Jake Zoll finished first with a 72.
“He played a lot better than I did this year,” Swanson said. “On a windy day, I’m happy with a 75. It’s a good score for me.”
The individual title was Swanson’s second of the season. He won Mundelein’s invite at Steeple Chase with an even-par 72.
“I came in here thinking at least I could get top 20,” Swanson said. “When I shot 75, I didn’t even think I would win. I thought I’d be like at least top 10. Luckily, I guess no one else really played that well.”
Swanson birdied the eighth, a short par 5, which he reached in two. He sank birdie putts of 10 feet (right-to-left break) on No. 13 and 7 feet on the short par-4 15th.
Chris Edwards (13th) had 79 for Vernon Hills, while defending champ Zoll (18th) carded an 80.
“He was happy for me,” Swanson said of Zoll. “He said, ‘Good job.’ We thought it was really cool that he won last year and I won this year.”
Libertyville (332, sixth) was led by John Cordan (78, seventh) and Mike Mudd (79, 14th). Lake Zurich (342, eighth) got a 78 from Doug Murphy (ninth).
Stevenson got four all-conference rounds: Nick Geissler (80, 17th), Tim Kim (81, 21st), Jack Spellman (82, 24th) and Reed Aren (83, 25th).
Lake Forest had six all-NSC golfers, one more than Mundelein.
“We didn’t think we were going to win,” Cigelnik said. “We knew if we all played really well and all played to our potential, we could win.”