Boys golf: Tiebreaker gets Fremd past Hersey at Old Orchard

Fremd got the better of Hersey by the slimmest of margins Thursday in a matchup of two of the top boys golf teams in the Mid-Suburban League.

The Vikings improved to 7-1 in conference with a tight win over the Huskies at Old Orchard Country Club.

Each team finished at 173, but Fremd won on a fifth-score tiebreaker.

"Our kids have a lot of natural talent," said Vikings coach Ryan Moreau. "As a team I don't think a state trip is out of the picture. We've just got to get the right guys playing well on the same day."

Colin Robinson shot 39 for Fremd, while Bill Gao and Nathan Schmidt both carded 45s.

Team captain Pierce Allord, a senior, contributed with a 44 for the Vikings.

"Pierce is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen," said Moreau. "Last year was his first year of competitive golf, and this year he's come out and worked harder than anyone else."

Alec Grundman had the all important fifth score (46) for Fremd, while Derek Cho led the Huskies with a 41.

Hersey now stands at 6-3 in conference, and the hard-luck losers got outstanding marks Thursday from Tommy Lumsden (42), Joey Carlson (44) and Colin Mizwicki (46).

Prior to the start of the year, Huskies coach Dan Caporusso said that he was looking for his team to show better results earlier in the campaign.

"We've started faster than the last couple of years, and we're improving every week," said the long-time Huskies coach.

"We had a nice tournament at Buffalo Grove, with some personal bests from Tommy (Lumsden) and Michael Thomas. Then we also had a personal best at Arlington Lakes against Meadows from Derek Cho."

Carlson, one of the team captains, helped lead a Huskies charge all the way to the state sectional tourney in 2016. He says that his team has a goal of getting back to sectionals - if not beyond.

"That was a great experience," said Carlson of last season' s postseason run. "We started the year bad, but then we came back and beat all the teams we had been losing to."

"Both Joey and Michael have been on varsity for two years," added Caporusso. "They're close friends and both have been in the Hersey golf program all four years."

The long-time Hersey coach says there is still room for improvement for the Huskies. "We're not quite where we want to be yet," said Caporusso, "but we're moving in the right direction."