Tri-Cities boys golf season preview

Boys golf season preview

Top area teams: Wheaton Academy, St. Charles East, Batavia, Marmion, Geneva, St. Charles North, St. Francis, West Aurora, Aurora Central Catholic, Aurora Christian, Kaneland.

Top returning athletes: Wheaton Academy: Blake Biddle, Jeff Berg, C.J. Urbanowski, seniors. St. Charles East: Wes Apple, Tom Laudadio, Kyle Cook, seniors; Jordan Wetsch, Jon Woods, Nick Maze, juniors. Batavia: Tim Schofield, Nick Michael, Ian Sohst, John Vacek, seniors; Grant Pufahl, junior. Marmion: Tim Johnson, Roy Logan, seniors; Evan Kline-Weeden, Taylor Kanute, juniors. Geneva: Mike Dermanuelian, Zach Schrotenboer, seniors; Andrew Cisco, Jeff Lapetina, juniors. St. Charles North: Chris Thomas, senior; Nate Clark, Cam Verisario, Kyle DalDegan, juniors. St. Francis: Keegan O'Rahilly, senior. West Aurora: Nick Pavlik, Grant Lavery, juniors. Aurora Central Catholic: Rob Taptich, Joe Jendusa, Joe Karkos, seniors; Ryan Harreld, junior. Aurora Christian: Brent Minta, Jake Ettelbrick, juniors. Kaneland: J.C. Gillette, Troy Krueger, seniors; IMSA: Luke Nayak, Will Erwin, NIck Virgl, juniors; Jon Hendricks, Pete Howes, sophomores.

Scouting report: There have been fireworks aplenty in the opening week of the boys prep golf season. Marmion, which lost nine players ­- either to graduation or transfers - from its program last fall, looked in midseason form after taking the Larkin tournament at the Highlands on Monday. Batavia followed up the Cadets' impressive debut with the 17-team title at Geneva on Thursday. Wheaton Academy, which has a strong local flavor headlined by UNLV-bound Blake Biddle, is aiming for the second state championship, and first for a boys squad, in school history in the middle tier of the three-class postseason tournament. The Warriors were third last year at Normal, and Biddle scorched the state layout on Tuesday with a 7-under-par 64 to lead Wheaton Academy to the team title of a prestigious Class 2A tournament. St. Charles East and West Aurora, the latter in a monumental upset, won Class 3A regional team championships last fall. Symbolism in the conference races is readily apparent: Geneva, Batavia and Kaneland will compete in the Western Sun for the final time; the two St. Charles schools will go toe-to-toe for the last time in a one-division Upstate Eight. The always combustible Aurora rivalries take on a new look as well as Aurora Christian joins forces with Marmion and Aurora Central in the new Suburban Christian Conference. Among the Class 3A local schools, St. Charles East has its eyes on the prize as the school will host the sectional at St. Andrews. Apple is the lone returning state qualifier in the area, and Wetsch had a medal-laden late-season run last year. "It could be a good year, it could be a great year," St. Charles East coach John Stock said. "Potentially, we're a pretty good team." St. Charles North welcomes back its most talented player in Thomas, who missed virtually his entire junior campaign with a stress fracture in his back. "We're glad to have Chris back," said St. Charles North coach Rob Prentiss. "That makes us a better team right off the bat. Our league has really become a good high school league ­- there are some quality kids throughout the conference." Schofield and Cisco are the unquestioned leaders at Batavia and Geneva, respectively. The former won the Western Sun as a sophomore, and Cisco was the underclass wild card on the Vikings' conference-championship team of a year ago. "We want to compete for the conference championship," said Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker. Schofield and Cisco were both cumulatively near red figures in the schools' tryout rounds. "(Cisco) is a very talented player," said Geneva coach Bill Koehn. Kaneland will conclude its long-standing league rivalries with the Bulldogs and Vikings at the conclusion of the school year. The Knights have optimism and question marks entering the season. "We've got a really young team," Kaneland coach Mark Meyer said. "We're going to have three or four core juniors and seniors at the top, and then we might have a revolving door of sophomores." Despite its heavy turnover, Marmion not only started off the season strong; the Cadets were dropped down to 2A for the state series, a potentially lethal move for their conference and sectional rivals. Five players - Johnson, Logan, Kline-Weeden, Kanute and Joel Lappin - broke 80 for Marmion Monday at the Highlands in Elgin. "It's a nice thing to say you have five kids in the 70s," Marmion coach Jen Konen said. "You never know what you're going to get on any given day. I have some gamers and athletes." Aurora Central Catholic has three returning sectional qualifiers to throw in the mix. "I am looking forward to this year," Aurora Central coach Jim Parker said. "We have some good experience coming back." For the second straight year, the Cadets also have the advantage of playing the regional on their home course, Phillips Park. Aurora Christian has the same luxury; the Eagles have a tournament-tested team primed for a breakout year. "We basically have our entire team coming back from last year," said Aurora Christian coach Paul Minta. "This team could do some good things this year." In addition to Minta and Ettelbrick, Bruce Renninger and Ryan Heun had the Eagles' lowest nine-hole averages last fall. St. Francis' O'Rahilly, who lives in St. Charles, eyes a repeat state trip for the Spartans. West Aurora came out of nowhere last year to win the first regional title in more than three decades at the school at Naperville Central. "In years to come, coaches will cite that (West Aurora) team for motivation," Naperville North coach Ryan Hantak said at the time. "It was a total surprise," West Aurora coach Jay Bauer said. Pavlik and Lavery are the Blackhawks' known entities. "After Nick and Grant, it's a big question mark," said Bauer. "On paper we're very inexperienced. One would probably say it's a rebuilding year. After the last two years, though, nothing would surprise me." West Aurora will host the regional at Orchard Valley.

Key dates: Aug. 31, Biltmore Classic; Sept. 1, St. Charles North at St. Charles East at Royal Fox; Sept. 1, Batavia at Geneva; Sept. 5, Fenton Invitational; Sept. 12, Batavia Invitational; Sept. 16, Aurora City Tournament; Sept. 19, Aurora Central Catholic Invitational; Sept. 26, Hinsdale Central Invitational; week of Sept. 28, Conference championships; Oct. 3, Lake Park Invitational.

Predicted state champions: Class 1A: Benton; Class 2A: Wheaton Academy; Class 3A: St. Viator.

- Kevin McGavin