Surprise, surprise -- Yorkville stuns field at WSC meet
There would be a fair share of penniless odds makers if betting on high school golf were legal.
Conventional wisdom suggested either Geneva or DeKalb, with Batavia as the primary spoiler, would capture the final Western Sun Conference boys golf championship based on the regular-season dual-match results.
But unpredictability and the links are as synonymous as St. Andrews and the birthplace of the sport.
Yorkville came out of nowhere to win its first league championship in school history behind senior Conor McCormick, who fired a 1-over-par 72 for top individual honors.
"We didn't even have a program for some 25 years," Yorkville coach Jerry Farber said of the Foxes' rebirth a decade ago.
Batavia (318), which suffered one of its two league losses to Yorkville earlier this fall, was double digits behind the Foxes' 307 for runner-up in both the tournament and final standings.
"We just had to win the tournament (to capture the league crown)," said Tim DeBruycker. "It was that simple. I am a little shocked at the (high individual) scores. I wouldn't have predicted that."
Glenbard South won a fifth-card tiebreaker with DeKalb for third place as neither the Barbs nor the Vikings could harness their collective rhythms.
DeKalb settled for third place overall with its 322 score, while the Vikings, the two-time defending champions, ballooned to a 325 to finish fourth in the final standings.
"Very disappointing," said Geneva coach Bill Koehn, "especially considering we played a very good practice round here on Sunday and had perfect conditions today. We had done so much during the season to put us in a position to win the conference."
Kaneland (330), Sycamore (337) and Rochelle (338) rounded out the field.
John Vacek and Andrew Sterling had the low scores among the three Kane County schools with matching 78s for Batavia.
"(I was) very consistent," said Vacek, who fashioned a pair of 39s. "All my drives were in the fairways, which gave me good second shots. I just tried to put (the possibility of Batavia winning the team title) behind me and play my game."
The Bulldogs' Tim Schofield also earned all-league distinctions for his regular-season play.
Geneva did not have any of its eight players break 80, but Jeff Lepetina and Andrew Cisco were named to the all-conference team.
Zach Schrotenenboer paced the Vikings with an 80.
Adam Grams, the eighth-man for Kaneland, paced the squad with a 79, but Hayley Guyton snared all the headlines once again.
The Knights' top player turned down a request to play at the girls conference tournament as an at-large competitor on Tuesday at Bliss Creek and had 13 pars to best all but 10 of the 63 male competitors.
"I thought about (playing in the girls tournament), but I wanted to be loyal to the (boys) team," Guyton said. "I was kind of frustrated at myself at blowing up on three holes."
Guyton certainly made a believer of Glenbard South senior Mitch McNeily.
"What impresses me most about her is she hits every shot where she wants to," said McNeily, who was 2-under on a five-hole back-nine stretch to highlight his 81. "It's really interesting playing with a girl. Her consistency is really amazing."
Sophomore Adam Turner not only led the Raiders with his play but also snared the final all-conference selection with his 77.
Josh Turner and Matt Cosenza had matching 82s to augment the 81 from McNeily, and Will Lear posted an 83 for the Raiders' decisive fifth-card tiebreaker.
The day was particularly bittersweet for Glenbard South coach Scott Iliff, who has been outspoken in his disappointment with the pending dissolution of the league.
"It's just a shame we're going to be leaving the conference," Iliff said. "I really wish we could have given this a couple more years. There has been quite a bit of parity (in boys golf)."