Boys golf: Carmel, Mundelein advance alongside regional champ Lake Forest

A mix of warm and windy conditions set the stage for some high scores and competitive regional golf at Shepherd's Crook Golf Club in Zion on Tuesday.

Lake Forest, Carmel Catholic and Mundelein all advanced to play in the Class 3A Warren sectional at Bittersweet Golf Course in Gurnee.

Lake Forest finished with a 319, 10 shots ahead of runner-up Carmel (329) and 11 better than Mundelein (330). Lake Forest senior Scott Frevert was the medalist with a 78 on the par 71, 6,827-yard course.

Carmel won the East Suburban Catholic Conference meet at Pine Meadow last week, and Jim Nolan was also named the coach of the year.

"Our finish in the conference was a big surprise," Nolan said. "With the wind and the conditions here today, it was the unknown. I thought we were able to hang in there."

Leading the Corsairs was senior Evan Schaefer, who shot an 80. ESCC champion Michael Pelfresne carded an 81, Evan Myers had an 82, and Ben Roberts finished with an 86.

"Our kids like this course really well and they're comfortable here," Nolan said. "I knew it was very tense with these teams. We did work on overcoming adversity, keeping an even head and not getting too down on ourselves."

Colin Wade led Mundelein with an 80. The Mustangs also counted Josh Peterson's 81, Trevor Neumaier's 82 and Parker Geary' 87.

"It was really windy and you just had to grind it out," Neumaier said. "On every hole you had to focus on every shot and try to keep calm."

Mundelein snagged the final sectional berth ahead of Warren (342) and Libertyville (345).

"We knew it was going to be tough," Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. "It was a matter of trying to grind your way around the course. Getting into the top three was our goal. We did have three scores in the low 80s, and that's not too bad.

"The troubling part is that we haven't played in bad weather all year," Parola added. "The weather has been unbelievable all fall. We haven't had hardly any wind whatsoever. To play in this kind of wind, you knew that you would have some setbacks. It's a matter of looking at the next shot or the next hole."

Mitch Kenston of Libertyville led the advancing individuals with a 79. Warren advanced Karl Tolentino (83), Ray Cordova (84), Stefan Nerheim (85) and Reid Calvert (90). Libertyville also got through Derek Calamari (87) and Bruce Jahanke (89).