The Schachner Family's history as LHS golf's first family

• The following is part of an ongoing series of articles in celebration of Libertyville High School's 100th anniversary.

With all the North Shore teams in our area grabbing the majority of golfing team titles, there haven't been many for Libertyville High School's boys and girls teams. The boys team began their program in 1955. They earned their first team honor in the fall of 1978 when 10-year head coach Vic Capron led his team to the state tournament, finishing 10th. The top player was Kim McEvers who placed seventh in the state. Other than winning five regional team titles, the only other team honor was the 1990 team qualifying for state, led by 18-year head coach John Estep. The girls program began two months after Title IX passed in the summer of 1972. In 1975 the girls earned the highest state placing in the history of the program when led by Pam Miller, who finished third in the individual state; the team placed fifth. The girls program has had outstanding success in recent years as they won three straight conference and regional titles from 2014-16, qualifying for the state and finishing seventh in 2015 behind head coach Greg Pedersen. Despite the two program's limited team success, the Schachner family is the clear first family of LHS Golf. Michael is a 2004 LHS grad. He qualified for sectionals all four years in LHS Golf. He was the regional medalist his sophomore and senior year, and a state qualifier his sophomore and junior year. His senior year, his regional championship score of 67 was the lowest in the state that season by three strokes. But an illness in the sectional prevented Michael from qualifying for state. That didn't prevent Duke University from recruiting him as he was the 10th ranked junior player in the U.S. his senior year. He won the Illinois State Junior Amateur in the summer of 2004. At Duke, he was named second-team all-American. Michael is one of five NCAA players to shoot a round of 60, which he did in the 2007 NCAA Championships. No NCAA player has gone lower. Since his Duke graduation Michael has played on the PGA Tour, currently playing in the PGA Tour Canada. A teammate of Michael, Kevin Wall ('03) was also a high school state qualifier. He attended Eastern Illinois University on a golf scholarship and played in several PGA Tour qualifying events. Michael's sister Nicole is a 2006 LHS grad and the highest state finishing LHS girl golfer. She is a two-time All-Stater, taking fifth as a sophomore and second as a senior. She earned All-Conference golfing honors all four years of high school. She was the conference medalist her sophomore and senior years. She held the nine- and 18-hole LHS records upon graduation. Nicole's team qualified for state her senior year, led by 20-year head coach Jim Seward. Nicole was recruited to play for the University of Florida. She was a three-year captain for the Gator team and an NCAA qualifier. In the summer after her freshman year, she won the title in the Illinois Women's Open. Following college, Nicole worked for the PGA for four years before becoming a financial adviser for Edward Jones.