Stringfellow leads Viator's winning effort
St. Viator's Dan Stringfellow gave a lot of credit to his new Edel putter at Tuesday's Fremd Class 3A boys golf regional.
He was being extremely modest.
Stringfellow had all phases of his game working as he shot a magnificent 3-under-par 68, which coaches believed to be the best high-school round ever played at Hilldale Golf Course in Hoffman Estates.
The junior's medal-winning score helped Viator (294) to the team trophy as it advanced to next week's sectional tournament in the first step toward what it hopes will be a second consecutive state championship.
"This was pretty solid," said Stringfellow, who had only one practice round at Hilldale prior to the tourney but still managed to record 5 birdies and an eagle at the 6,432-yard, par-71 layout.
"I was putting really well today - I made a lot of 10 footers."
Fremd (314) and Hersey (318) also will move on to next week's Glenbrook South sectional as the top three teams at Hilldale qualified.
"I'm ecstatic," said Hersey senior Chris James, who recently claimed the fifth-place medal at the prestigious New Trier Invitational. "We've got six awesome golfers on this team.
"Our coach (Dan Caporusso) summed up our season and went over all the meets, and reminded us that even though all six of us might not play well at every tourney, we've always got four guys picking each other up."
Jimmy Morrow (75), Johannes Seemann (80), John McIlree (81) and Kevin Brawley (82) contributed to the Huskies advancement. Kyle Bahnick (76), MSL tournament medalist Sean Jones (78), Jackson Tworek (79) and Chris Ramirez (81) scored for the runner-up Vikings.
"Danny (Stringfellow) is such a solid player," said Viator coach Jack Halpin, "but then all these guys are.
"I think this is the best we've played in any regional or sectional in the last 3 years. because this course was so difficult - but it was in great shape, and it was set up fairly."
Viator's Joe Carlson had the second-best score of the day with 73 while Brad Klune shot 75 and sophomore Kenny Wienckowski carded a 78.
Rolling Meadows senior Dan Alsup (74) was one of 9 golfers not on qualifying teams that moved on to sectionals as an individual. He echoed the prevailing sentiment that the players were facing a tough adversary in Hilldale.
"I did OK," said Alsup, who recorded 3 birdies on the day. "I hit the ball well, but I was having trouble putting it. The greens were quick - they were rolling true, so you can't blame anything on that, you just have to blame the speed."
Others moving on as individuals included Ryan Suhadolnik (79) and Max Sachs (79) of Buffalo Grove; Brett Miehls (82) from Hoffman Estates; Schaumburg's Brian Peterson (83) and Steve Caldarola (84); and Johnny Beer (85) from Conant.
Kevin McDonald of Meadows and Brad Ferris of Palatine shot 86 and were the last golfers to make it into the sectional field.
"Unbelievable," said Ferris. "I was one of the first guys in, and I didn't think my score would hold up. I guess that shows how tough the course was playing.
"I just tried to keep the ball in play and get up and down when I could."
Now Viator, Fremd and Hersey, along with the nine individual qualifiers, take aim at the Glenview Park Golf Club at Monday's sectional tourney.
"I'm confident (going into sectionals), and I have confidence in our team," said James, who is also a standout baseball player for the Huskies.
"Hopefully we'll be able to take the momentum from this and show what we can do, and be able to move on to the state tournament."