Consistent Batavia shoots for success in 'second' season

Area golfers are about to enter the "second" season.

Conference. Regionals. Sectionals. State.

It's the high school equivalent of playing all four of major professional tournaments - the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship - in a 19-day span.

In other words, bring your "A" game or you'll be back home cleaning your clubs.

On the girls' side, no team has been a bigger surprise than Batavia this season.

Unbeaten during their regular-season dual match schedule, the Bulldogs have been a picture of consistency.

That has made things quite pleasant for first-year coach Morgan Connell.

"From what I had heard, and knowing and talking with Rich (teaching professional Flores), I knew we'd have a lot of talent," said Connell. "But I didn't know how deep we'd be. That has been the biggest surprise for me."

Led by returning state qualifiers Tara Cullerton and Megan Ramp, Batavia hasn't just been a nine-hole scoring team, either.

The Bulldogs, who placed sixth in Saturday's Naperville North tournament, have been solid in 18-hole events and captured tourney titles at Plainfield and Champaign Centennial earlier this season.

Cullerton, a junior, displayed her composure on the way to a 10th-place finish at Naperville North.

"She was a little off her game Saturday, but she got it figured out and pretty much played par golf the last 12 holes," Connell said. "Even with an off day, she still wound up with an 80."

Kayla Lehman, Abby Guazzelli and Kaitlyn Czerwonka have provided support for Batavia, which should be in the thick of things during today's Upstate Eight Conference championship at St. Andrews.

"I just want the girls to go out there and have fun," Connell said. "We've kind of casually focused on winning."

Winning has also been commonplace for St. Charles East and St. Charles North.

The Saints, who entered last week unbeaten in dual match play before losing to Batavia and St. Charles North on back-to-back days, finished ahead of both teams during their third-place showing at Naperville North.

Senior Nicole Rae, who carded a record-setting 34 against Neuqua Valley two weeks ago, is looking forward to a return to St. Andrews for conference and regional (Oct. 6) meets.

"We've played that course many times and we've done pretty well in conference, regional and even sectional tournaments," Rae said. "Having people as good or better than you in the same group makes it tough, especially if you're keeping their score. "I'm just going to try to focus on my own game."

Sophomore Paige Jordan has been on top of her game of late, evidenced by her seventh-place 79 at Naperville North and an even-par round Wednesday at Pottawatomie.

"It all comes down to conference and regionals," Jordan said. "That's where you prove yourself."

Another sophomore, St. Charles North's Ariana Furrie, set a team record with a 3-under-par 34 last week against St. Charles East and followed that with a fifth-place 77 at Naperville North.

"Conference is going to be tough," predicted North Stars coach Chris Patrick, "and so will regionals. We'll see Batavia both times and they're the ones we have to measure ourselves against to see how far we can go.

"St. Charles East, St. Francis and Wheaton Warrenville South will also be there, so that's five solid teams at our regional."

Geneva will rely upon freshman Abby Luchtenburg, who earned medalist honors at Saturday's Rolling Meadows Invitational with a 76.

One of the leading medalist contenders at the Oct. 6 regional figures to be Kaneland's Hayley Guyton, who spent the regular season playing with the boys' team. Guyton placed second in the Class 2A girls state tournament last season.

The 2A sectional will be held Oct. 11 at The Links of Carillon in Plainfield, with the state tourney Oct. 15-16 in Forsyth.

On the boys' side, St. Charles East could be a "second" season contender, considering that the Saints have earned four first-place finishes this season - including three tournament titles.

Senior Jordan Wetsch, who has been shooting around par most of the season, won medalist honors for the third time with an even-par 71 at Saturday's Sterling Invitational.

Wetsch, who made the cut at the Illinois Open and placed third in the Illinois State Junior Amateur this summer, was one of four Saints to post rounds in the 70s during their first-place finish (301) at Sterling.

Nick Maze (74), Jon Woods (78), Eddie Hribar (78), senior Nate Esler and junior Stephen Osland provide depth for coach John Stock's squad.

"We need to focus on our game and play smarter and tougher," said Stock, who spent Sunday afternoon playing golf with long-time friend and Aurora Central Catholic coach Jim Parker.

St. Charles East is no stranger to postseason success, having placed seventh in the Class 3A state tournament a year ago. The Saints will tee it up in Thursday's UEC tournament at St. Andrews.

"I just want to the guys to play well and we'll see what happens," Stock said.

Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles East and St. Charles North will also battle for the three team berths at the Oct. 5 regional at Bartlett Hills.

"We won there last year, but we've had a few heartbreaks there as well," Stock said.

Geneva, which took third with 296 at Saturday's Hinsdale Central Invite, features senior Andrew Cisco, Ben Kale and Scott Parola. Cisco fired a personal-best 64 at Mill Creek earlier this summer.

St. Charles North, which was eighth at Hinsdale Central (305) and lost by 1 stroke during its head-to-head meeting with St. Charles East, is led by two-time team MVP Nate Clark and Stephen Gow.

Batavia will counter with Taylor Brandt, Lucas Kuzmanic and Nathan Podraza.

The boys sectional will be played Oct. 11 at Naperbrook, with the state tourney Oct. 15-16 at The Den at Fox Creek in Bloomington.

"We have to get out of regionals before we start thinking about Naperbrook," Stock said.

It's better to take things 1 shot at a time during the "second" season.

You may contact Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com.