Tiebreaker lifts Huskies over Waubonsie Valley

If Naperville high school golfers were looking for a good challenge to start their season, they found it Wednesday.

Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley tied at 308 on the boys side, with the Huskies winning on the fifth-card tiebreaker. Neuqua Valley's John Walsh pulled in with a 71 for medalist honors, one of the few scores in the 70s at the Vern McGonagle Naperville City Championship, hosted by Naperville Country Club.

"The one thing that's really nice about this course is that it will humble the great players," said Naperville Central coach Barry Baldwin, whose team was fifth at 340. "It's definitely playing hard, but the weather conditions were perfect. I think it's a great challenge for the kids early in the season, for sure.

"This course does a great job of showing the kids what they need to work on, because mistakes are amplified."

Walsh made very few mistakes, getting through his round with just 2 bogeys.

"I'm on a hot streak," he said. "I hit greens in regulation and I made putts."

Walsh held off Waubonsie Valley junior Alec Meyer, who was very pleased with his 73.

"I played great," Meyer said. "My putting was really good. I had a lot of 2-putts from from big distance ... and that's what really helped me a lot today. I somewhat kept my drives on the fairway and hit a lot of greens. That helped a lot."

Meyer wasn't surprised to see the Warriors do well as a group.

"We have an awesome team," he said. "We're pretty stacked. Last year we were pretty good, and this year I think we're going to be even better."

On the girls side Naperville Central won with a 375 led by Carolyn Wong's 91 and Emma Ondik's 92.

Waubonsie Valley was second with a 380 as Cherise Mangal easily won medalist honors with an 81, the only score lower than 90.