Miller, Carmel net downstate berth
When Carmel made it downstate in 2009, Brian Miller didn’t get to play.
Two years later, Miller made sure he’d be involved as he fired a 1-under par 70 to take medalist honors and lead the Corsairs to a tie for first place in the Class 3A Fremd sectional on Monday afternoon at Hilldale Golf Club in Hoffman Estates.
Carmel shot 301 as a team to tie for top homors with Lake Forest, earning the Corsairs a berth to the state tournament in Bloomington on Friday and Saturday.
After bogeying the first hole, Miller played error-free golf as he made 15 pars and 2 birdies over the last 17 holes. The senior hit all but one fairway to shoot the lowest competitive round in his career.
“I’m usually a little wayward but I drove it pretty well today,” Miller said. “I just did what I needed to do. It was awesome because the team needed it.”
Tommy Schofield (76), Mike Wilkinson (77) and Jackson Wietecha (78) also had strong rounds for the Corsairs, who are playing their best golf when it matters most.
“We finished strong in our conference tournament so we knew we were peaking at the right time,” said Carmel coach Jim Nolan. “We thought if we could keep up with Lake Forest, then that would get us downstate. And we did.”
“This is the toughest sectional in the state,” Nolan said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. I was just hoping that we would stay close, and we did.”
Not far behind Miller was Mundelein’s Grant Heelan. The junior shot a 72 to finish second individually and earn a trip to the state tournament.
Heelan started on the back 9 and shot a 33 to put himself in excellent position to advance.
“I doubled the second hole,” Heelan said. “After that I didn’t worry about it and tried to get it back. I wasn’t worried about my score.”
Heelan mostly hit a 3-wood off the tee to ensure greater accuracy.
“I felt that if you hit it straight here, you can definitely make a good score,” Heelan said. “Normally, I always hit driver because it’s one of my straightest clubs. On the tighter holes you have to hit it straight so I succeeded on that.”
Stevenson (316) finished in fourth place, just 3 shots behind Barrington, to narrowly miss a trip downstate. Aren Reed carded a 77 to qualify individually, while Nick Geissler (79), Amaran Sandhu (80) and Jack Spellman (80) had solid rounds as well.
“It’s a learning experience,” said Stevenson coach John Rueth. “We have five of our six guys coming back next year so hopefully this will be a driving force. (Reed) did well on the tough side which was back. I’m happy for him and we’ll see how he does down there.”
Chris Oberto (82), Mark Mathes (82), Adam Gogovsky (85) and Kyle Kane (86) represented Warren while Alex Quenan and Ryan McGuire of Libertyville shot 81 and 85, respectively.