Scouting Cook County Class 3A boys golf state meet
What: IHSA Class 3 Boys State Golf Championship
Where: The Den at Fox Creek Golf Course, Bloomington
When: Today and Saturday
Qualifying teams: St. Viator, Barrington, New Trier, Hinsdale Central, Benet Academy, Lake Forest, Sandburg, Fenwick, Edwardsville, Quincy.
Area players competing as individuals: David Atas (Sr., Maine South) Konrad Deka (Sr, Leyden); Chris James (Sr, Hersey); Sean Jones (Jr, Fremd); Johannes Seeman (Sr, Hersey)
Team outlook: Defending champion St. Viator is making a strong case to repeat. The Lions won the Fremd regional by 20 strokes, then bested New Trier to triumph at the Glenbrook South sectional. Junior Danny Stringfellow medaled at Fremd with a 68 and fired a 69 at Glenview Park Golf club to finish just 1 stroke behind sectional medalist James. Lions senior Matt Vitale shot the low score at this year's ESCC tourney. Barrington matched Lake Forest with a 311 at their own sectional at Makray Memorial after losing by 1 stroke to Jacobs at the Prairie Ridge regional. Broncos Ross Frankenberg and Travis Smczynski each shot 73 at Prairie Ridge. The Trevians will also be a force to be reckoned with, as will downstate Quincy, second in state behind Viator in 2007. Hinsdale Central was third last year and is still led by Brett Tomfohrde. Sandburg won the Homewood-Flossmoor sectional with a 325. Edwardsville carded a 304 to win at Pekin.
Individual outlook: Frankenberg has his eyes on the prize after finishing runner-up to Quincy's Luke Guthrie last fall. Viator has threats in Stringfellow, Vitale, Joe Carlson and Brad Klune, all of whom excelled at the Den last year while finishing in the top 20. Jones wants to improve on last year's eighth-place finish, while James and Seemann hope to continue their hot streaks. Deka looks to finish with a flourish after shooting the second-best score (69) at Glenview along with Stringfellow. John Callahan of Benet was fifth in 2007 as a sophomore, and he shot 77 this year at the Bartlett sectional to help the Redwings advance. Pekin sectional medalist Carson Baugher (73) has a shot, Jack Watson of Carmel medaled at the Barrington sectional, freshman Kyle Kochevar fired a 72 to win at Bartlett and Austin Craig of Sandburg won by 2 strokes at Homewood-Flossmoor.
What they're saying: "We're thrilled to have the opportunity to compete for a state championship. It's extremely difficult to make it to state and we plan to enjoy every minute of it. Even though we have a player like Ross Frankenberg, who I believe is the best player in the state, the strength of our team is it's depth." - Barrington coach Mike Kallenbach.
- Bill Esbrook