Record day for Viator boys, Stringfellow
St. Viator and Dan Stringfellow left the rest of the field in its boys golf tournament feeling blue on Saturday.
Stringfellow took medalist honors with a tournament-record 67 to lead the Lions' Blue team to a record 288 in its 10th annual tourney at Old Orchard Country Club.
Stringfellow shot 3-under-par and teammate Brad Klune was right behind with 68. Mike Ferrari tied for sixth with 75 and Matt Crandall shot 78.
Viator won the tourney by 24 shots. Chris James shot 75 to lead Hersey to fourth (315).
Buffalo Grove invite: Dan Downey had what he called "the best round of his high school career" Saturday afternoon at the Bison Invitational.
The Vernon Hills senior shot a 71 at Buffalo Grove Golf Club, tying the school record and just missing out on medalist honors as Steve Deutsch of Glenbrook South finished at 70.
Glenbrook South took the team title with a score of 289.
Ryan McCullough of the host Bison and Mike Larson from Hersey shot 78. Shooting 79s were Dan Parks and John McIlree from Hersey and Eric Jones of Elk Grove.
"I played really smart on the front nine (36)," said Jones, "but on the back nine I had some mental errors."
The Grens' junior also improved over last year's BG finish when he carded an 81 while just a sophomore.
"This year," said Jones, "I have more confidence."
-- Bill Esbrook
Girls
Old Orchard Country Club, with all its trees, rough and water, can bring out the best in or seriously challenge golfers.
In Saturday's St. Viator girls golf invitational it did both.
Three standouts certainly did rise to the occasion. Viator's Kaela Klune, Conant's Kris Yoo and Fenwick's Lisa Joyce were all in the leading group and all shot 76s.
But a late start, a slow course and a shorter day prevented a playoff at this meet. The tiebreaker came down to the scorecard and the marks from holes 9, 8 and 7, in that order.
Nine, being one of the more difficult holes on the course, made the difference with medalist Klune getting the edge by a stroke.
"I had a really solid round," Klune said. "I had a lot of pars which really helped. I was making putts from everywhere. It was really fun."
The Lions took third as a team with 340 behind champs Loyola (333) and Carmel (336).
"We had good scores in the 80s," said Lions coach Mick Drewes. "We're very proud of our 340. We were struggling a little bit going into the season."
Betsy Mleko (87), Hallie Dunn (88) and Abby Dickey (89) all scored for the hosts.
"There's a lot of quality players here," added Drewes. "I hate the scorecard playoff -- they all just play so good. But that's the only way we could do it. If we had another hour of daylight, we might go play another couple holes."
The host course also sponsored a prize for closest to the pin. That went to Dickey on No. 14. Incidentally, she made the putt for a birdie.
Prospect scored a 350 thanks to the steady play of Melanie Walsh (86), Michelle Lawless (87), Marietta Smith (88) and Alexa Campanile (89).
Despite the Knights remarkable consistency, coach Jim Hamann felt his team has and have had lower scores within them.
"We struggled a little bit today," Hamann said. "The kids on the back nine came back a little bit. We're excited about how we're playing (this season). It was just a bad day."
After the tiebreaker criteria, Yoo had to settle for third place. But even as her own worst critic, Yoo was pleased with the round considering the unforgiving course.
"I did well," Yoo said. "I'm not (really happy), but I'll take it. (The course) was tough. It was different with a lot of trees and water. It was a good experience."
Heather Nyc shot a 100 for the Cougars, which finished with a 410.
"Kris really did well. The course made her come up to her A-game," said Conant coach Diana Johanneson. "She realized what she has to play against at regionals and sectionals -- a higher level of competition."
-- Bill Swick