Broncos capture a pair
Ross Frankenberg had an incredible summer of golf, winning two Illinois Junior Golf Association tournaments and being named IJGA player of the year.
The Barrington junior's stellar play has carried over to the high school season.
Less than 24 hours after shooting 74 to take third place at the Inverness Invitational 18-hole event, Frankenberg carded a 37 at Makray Memorial Golf Club's front nine to lead the Broncos to Mid-Suburban League wins over Hersey and Rolling Meadows.
The triangular that matched last year's co-MSL champions, Barrington and Meadows, against third-place finisher Hersey wasn't decided until the final putt.
The Broncos and Huskies' top 4 players tied at 161 and each team's No. 5 shot 43. The Broncos triumphed when junior Travis Smyczynski came in at 43 to just ace out the final Hersey golfer.
Smyczysnki overcame a 9 on his first hole and shot only 3-over the rest of the way, including a birdie on the par-4 fifth.
"At the second tee," Smyczynski said, "I kept telling myself I had to get back in the groove."
Frankenberg, victorious in tourneys at Chick Evans and Golf Club of Illinois over the break, savored the 2 wins on the Broncos' home turf.
"This is a difficult crouse," the junior said, "especially on the front side. There are some tricky holes, especially the way the wind was blowing today.
"You've got to minimize your mistakes, that's the best thing to do. There's no way you're going to be bogey-free here -- you've just got to accept it."
And though Wednesday's victories came at the expense of the talented Huskies and Meadows, a team that came from behind to tie Barrington at last season's MSL conference championship meet, Frankenberg wasn't focused on the rivalries.
"We're different teams from last year," said Frankenberg. "We've all lost good players (to graduation) -- you've just got to try your best to beat any team you play. There's no extra pressure (facing Meadows and Hersey)."
Hersey was led by a 39 by junior Johannes Seemann, who finished just 4-over despite a triple-bogey on No. 5.
"I've been struggling with my swing (this season)," said Seemann, who qualified for the state tournament in 2006. "I've had a couple of good 9-hole scores, but I haven't put it together yet for 18 holes. Today it got a little better, and there's only good things to come."
Seemann and Frankenberg are two of the state's top juniors and are friends off the course as well, but according to Seemann there isn't a rivalry between the two.
"More like a fierce competition," said Seemann.
Dan Parks also shot 39 for Hersey. Chris Olson carded a 39 for the Mustangs(164) .
Barrington got 41s from Ryan Quinn and Charlie Douglas to contribute to the wins.