Cordes medals for sectional-qualifying Saints
Consistency was the name of the game Tuesday at St. Andrews Golf & Country Club in West Chicago.
Relying on four scores in the 70s -- led by Nick Quagliano's third-place 76 -- Bartlett's boys golf team captured the Class 3A St. Charles East regional tournament title.
"Before the tournament, we said that 306 was our goal," said Hawks coach Tom Boyle, "but it still was a nice performance."
Quagliano, who was a sophomore member of the Hawks' 2005 regional championship squad, carded a tourney-high 13 pars to go along with a birdie, two bogeys and pair of double-bogeys.
"I doubled 9 and 18 -- I just didn't finish very well," said Quagliano. "But it feels good going out (as a senior) with a regional championship. It was a good day. We all stepped up to play today and showed consistency."
The Hawks, who amassed a 311 total while losing a fifth-card tiebreaker to Neuqua Valley at last week's Upstate Eight Conference tournament, also received top-10 efforts from sophomore Anthony Burdi (fourth, 77), senior Ryan Oberg (seventh, 78) and junior Trace Pomplun (10th, 79).
The UEC was well-represented at the 10-team regional, with St. Charles East (315) and Larkin (315) also qualifying for Monday's Naperville Central sectional at Naperbrook.
On a day when the Saints' top player struggled, seniors Colin Cordes and Tyler Deetjen helped pick up their teammate.
Cordes carded 3 birdies and earned medalist honors with a 3-over-par 74, while Deetjen added a second-place 75.
"Pretty much everything was working," said Cordes, who began with 5 consecutive pars on the way to an even-par 35 on the front side. "I've had some rounds where I've hit the ball well but I haven't been able to putt, and I've had rounds where I've been able to putt but haven't hit the ball well.
"It kind of came together today."
Deetjen's round included a pair of birdies, 10 pars, 6 bogeys -- and plenty of tense moments.
"When I heard that (Saints' No. 1 player Chris) Niemiec was playing bad, I was like, 'I knew I had to step it up somehow.'
"I was so nervous out there."
Brad Weiss (82) and Niemiec (84) added counting scores for the Saints.
"Today was the total definition of team," said Saints coach John Stock.
Michael Sainz (fifth, 77), Luc Geier (ninth, 79), Ryan Smith (11th, 79) and Scott Harm (16th, 80) led Larkin to its first sectional berth since 2001.
"It's been a while since we got out as a team," said Royals coach Tim Jones. "I'm extremely proud of the guys, especially the young kids, and Michael (Sainz) gets another crack at making it downstate. He's missed out by one shot three years in a row."
"It's nice that we kept it together for the most important tournament of the year," said Sainz, whose round included a pair of birdies, a triple-bogey and a double-bogey.
Greg Wiitanen (79) was the lone sectional qualifier for sixth-place St. Charles North (330).
"I played pretty well on the front side," said Wiitanen, who opened his round with a 1-over 36. "But I didn't have any confidence on the back nine."
"I'm surprised," North Stars coach Rob Prentiss said of his team's showing.
"For some reason, the job didn't get done today. I don't have an explanation for it."
Fourth-place West Chicago (322) snared 3 of the 8 individual at-large spots, thanks to Sam Wais (79), Ryan Crawford (80) and Brendon Jones (80).
"In the last eight years, we had one year where we had two guys go (to sectional) and that was the same year," said Wildcats coach Eric Lasky.
"Other than that, no one has gone."
Other individual qualifiers were Glenbard North's Ryan Zeman (sixth, 77), Wheaton North's Travis Otto (eighth, 78), South Elgin's Andrew Buddle (14th, 80) and Wheaton North's Brett Kirchhofer (81).