Saints claim team title; Bettis has dream day
It would be tough to top the kind of day Brooke Bettis enjoyed Wednesday.
A few hours after learning that she had been selected as one of 24 Scholastic Junior All-Americans by the American Junior Golf Association, Bettis carded a 1-under-par 70 to earn medalist honors at the Class AA St. Charles East girls golf regional.
The St. Charles North senior, who is now eligible to participate in next month's Polo Golf Junior Classic in Florida, matched her previous career-low round while also helping lift the North Stars (344) to the third and final sectional team berth.
"It was a good day today," said Bettis, who received congratulatory hugs and handshakes from a throng of well-wishers as she walked off the 18th green.
"I kept my head in it the whole round and I never 3-putted."
In addition to a pair of birdies, Bettis added a rare eagle on the 306-yard, par-4 ninth hole.
"I kind of sliced my drive right into the trees," said Bettis. "I had a clean shot to the green but I had to hit it low and run it through the overhanging branches."
Choking down on a 6-iron from 110 yards out, Bettis hit a runner that struck the pin and dropped into the cup.
"It was one of the best feelings in golf that I've ever had. I was just trying to put it on the green."
Surprisingly, she wasn't all that impressed with her drives.
"The approach shots from 100 yards and in -- I was on today," said Bettis, who stuck her short-iron approach that led to an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
While Bettis took the individual spotlight, St. Charles East captured its first regional crown since 2001 with a 338 total, 3 strokes better than second-place St. Francis (341).
Led by Rachel Edwards' fourth-place 80, the Saints strung together one of their most consistent rounds of the season. Jenny Niemiec (82), Rebecca Norris (87) and Nicole Rae (89) added counting scores for St. Charles East.
"It's a great feeling to have all four scores in the 80s today in regionals," said Edwards, who fired a 39 on the front side. "It's very exciting because it means that we might be able to something at sectionals, too."
Saints coach Rod Osborne felt his team might be on the verge of something big heading into sectional action.
"We played so well at Naperbrook (Sept. 22) without even our whole team and I thought that was a big step," said Osborne, who guided the Saints to their eighth regional title since 1992.
Junior Morgan Walsh shot a career-best 78 to lead St. Francis to its first Class AA sectional berth. Kayla Stueland (82), Katie Dorsch (89) and Lynn Dreisilker (92) had counting scores for the Spartans.
"My putting was a lot better today," said Walsh, who drained a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-5 10th hole. "Our main goal was to advance as a team."
"That's been trying to get out of her bag all year," Spartans coach Darlene Morgan said of Walsh's round. "When we started out the season, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that they would be where they are today."
Jordan Heinlein (career-best 81), Allie Cerone (84) and Nicole Bronson (86) qualified for fourth-place Wheaton North, while fifth-place Geneva also qualified three individuals -- Kim Connor (84), Shannon Delaney (87) and Kendall McCleary (87).
"They set a school record (351) by 16 strokes today," said Vikings coach Eric Hatczel.
Other individual at-large qualifiers were Wheaton Warrenville South's Molly O'Connor (79), Batavia's Lauren Lenkowski (83), York's Kelly Carlquist (84) and South Elgin/Streamwood Co-op's Carly Schneider (87).