Over 18 holes, Glenbard South finishes on top
Glenbard South prefers 18-hole boys golf tournaments, which is a good thing considering that's basically all the Raiders have left this season.
The Raiders shot a 322 Wednesday at The Sanctuary in New Lenox at the Metro Suburban Conference tournament, the lowest score on the day. Wheaton Academy and St. Edward tied for second place in the West Division with matching 338s, the Warriors placing second via tiebreaker.
"Today on the putting green I told the kids, the best team today is getting ready for the state series," Raiders coach Scott Iliff, who purposely schedules half of the team's dates to be 18-hole tournaments just to prepar*e for the state series. "I said show me what you got, and they did a pretty good job."
The Raiders won the tournament because they had the two low scores; Russell Matos won medalist honors with a 70 despite 25-mph winds, and fellow senior Christopher Dufort shot a 73. Senior Ryan Marco and junior Tim Weesner added the other two Raiders counting scores with an 88 and a 91, respectively.
"I have hopes of getting to state, and I know how tough it is to do each year," Iliff said. "We have to have a little more depth. We have two obviously. But (Nos.) 3 and 4 need to be a little more competitive."
The Raiders will play 18 holes next week at Pine Meadow Golf Club in Mundelein in the Class 2A St. Patrick regional, hoping to earn a berth the following week at the Nazareth sectional, to be held at familiar Broken Arrow Golf Course. The defending state runners-up then could return to the Weibring Golf Club in Normal where they would play 18 holes twice over two days.
Wheaton Academy captured the overall West Division team championship by a point because of its strong dual-meet play this season. The Warriors finished with 22 points overall to the Raiders' 21. The Raiders lost two nine-hole dual meets during the conference season.
"It was fantastic because it was a goal that we had established at the beginning of the season," Warriors coach Scott Broman said of the overall division title. "And to see this come through, that they played well every match throughout the regular season, then to come out here and compete in tough wind conditions and be good enough to win, it's great for our program."
Grant Gosden led Wheaton Academy with a fourth-place 77, and Kyle Bertsche took sixth with an 81.
"What I'm most proud of is the way people finished," Broman said, singling out Carter Bruntjen and Peter Crowe, who came through for Wheaton Academy's third and fourth counting scores. Bruntjen finished par-par for an 88, and Crowe finished par-bogey-par for a 92.
"It just shows how every stroke counts and it's not over until the ball goes in the hole on your 18th hole," Broman said.
St. Edward's Michael Mattas also shot a 73, but Dufort took second based on the tiebreaker.
"Unfortunately, the whole year we've always been missing one of our top four, and we're missing one of our top four again today," Green Wave coach Greg Winters said of a sick golfer. "So I think we would have been a little bit better. I think we would have snuck up into second place. But I'm proud of how the boys did."
Aaron Worf followed Mattas with an 82, good for seventh, and Jason Allen was ninth at 85. Worf and Mattas earned all-conference honors for the season.
"Michael played decent today. He didn't have his best game, but he fought it off and got a 73," Winters said. "And we got Jason and we got Aaron in the top 10, so I'm proud about that."
IC Catholic Prep was fourth in the West at 354, led by sophomore Connon Leahy's eighth-place 85. Aurora Central finished at 370 for fifth and Riverside-Brookfield at 379.
Timothy Christian placed third in the East Division at 377 behind Chicago Christian (327) and Illiana Christian (332).
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