Scouting Fox Valley boys golf
One the area deans of high school golf coaching is calling it a career after this season.
Veteran Larkin coach Tim Jones will retire from teaching at the end of the school year. This is Jones’ 35th year as a teacher in U-46 and his 25th as Larkin’s golf coach. Jones also is Streamwood’s boys basketball head coach.
“You realize you’ve been doing this a long time,” said Jones, who is looking forward to following his son, Andrew’s senior sports seasons next year at Larkin. “I’ve done enough. Let someone else do a good job.”
Jones, who reminisced about the regionals Larkin has hosted and the many successful teams and individual players he’s coached over the years, also lauded assistant Bob Todd for his work over the last few years.
“Bob is real good with the computer and all of the paperwork,” said Jones. “He’s made my life a lot easier. Bob has done an excellent job.”
Jones’ final Larkin team returns senior Dylan Ganow, along with juniors Andrew Jones, Jack McCracken and Tyler Kalusa and sophomore twins Dan and Jon Lenz — the sons of Bartlett Hills assistant pro and Larkin graduate Phil Lenz.
Larkin shot 326 at its own invite and 323 at the Geneva invite earlier this week.
“We’ll be much improved,” said Jones. “We’re a lot better. What I’ve seen so far is encouraging. We have the potential to be really good. We’re on track. We were OK last year, but we’re really improved this year. We’re capable of doing some good things.”
Larkin again will play in a total of 11 18-hole tournaments.
“It’s a great barometer to see where your team is at,” said Jones.
Also in the Upstate Eight Conference, Streamwood shaved 19 strokes off its 2011 total at the recent Larkin invitational. The Sabres are led by junior all-conference returnee Eric Hamlin. Seniors Jeff Weaver, Devin Holota, Nate McCoy, Cody Stonebreaker, Eric Tomlinson and Danny Orlando are back. Juniors Arsenio Pascuel, Kyle Rhodes, Quinn Enno and sophomore Hayden Holota are Sabre newcomers. Hamlin shot 78 at Larkin.
“We should be a very competitive team,” said Streamwood coach George Rosner, who retired from teaching in June but continues as the school’s boys golf and girls basketball coach.
“We have a much more experienced group of golfers. Our top players should compete very well.”
South Elgin took third in the conference last year. Seniors Colton Kubovy, Victor Miras and Jimmy Steininger are back. Kubovy averages a 79 for 18. Juniors Andrew Dylo, Deven Meredith and Tyler Brown also return.
“We are pretty consistent,” said South Elgin coach Jay Bartholomew. “We hit a lot of fairways, but need some work around and on the greens.”
Bartlett was fourth in conference play last year. Senior Ryan Wolfe is back and averages 75 for 18 holes. New faces that could help include seniors Zach Evans, Dan Vanderbiest, juniors Cody Lewis and Cal Fanslow and sophomore Mike Coyne.
“We will need to play smart target golf this season,” said Bartlett coach Tom Boyle.
Burlington Central junior Matt Weber has enjoyed an action-packed first two years of high school golf.
As a freshman, Weber was part of a Rockets team that qualified for the Class 2A state finals. Last year, Weber again went Downstate as an individual.
Weber is one of a number of talented area boys’ golfers to keep an eye on this fall. He started off his season earlier this week by shooting a 71 at the Larkin invite, where he lost the championship in a playoff, and then came back the next day and won the Geneva Invite at Mill Creek with a 69. Central finished fifth in the 25-team field at Larkin.
“That’s the best we’ve competed at Larkin in a long time,” said Central coach Deb Twenhafel. “We’re going to be young this year, but we have quite an bit of talent. We’re going to be pretty competitive. I think we are going to hold our own with teams around here.”
Sophomores Andrew Sherman and Austin Neisel will also help. They were Central’s second and third scores at Larkin. Central’s senior contingent features Brad Roberts, Austin Dell, Graham Hanek, Dan McCurd and John Smith.
In the Fox Valley Conference, Huntley is coming off a tremendous 2011 season where it went 12-1 and won the FVC Valley title and the Fox Valley Conference tournament.
Brothers Ryan (senior) and Trent (sophomore) Craig are back to lead the way. Ryan Craig recently shot a 65 at the Oak Club in Genoa to win a tournament. Trent Craig qualified for state as a freshman last year. Ryan Craig won the IJGA Chick Evans tournament this summer.
Other returnees for Huntley include seniors AJ Fanselow and Garrett Chmiola, along with juniors Tyler Ross and Gage Jereb. Ross and junior newcomer Brad Spoeth finished third and fourth respectively in the MCJGA player of the year standings. Junior Riley Wicks was par of the MCJGA tournament of champions. Senior Nick Bonich and junior Glenn Miller are also new to the team.
“Our strength will be depth,” said Huntley coach Jim Rolando. “Each of the 10 varsity guys are capable of having a score count in each match. We would like to continue to improve on the success of last fall. The FVC Valley Division will be tougher than ever and we need to work on individual improvements that will make the team stronger in the long run.”
Cary-Grove came charging out of the gates, winning the Cary-Grove invitational at Foxford Hills. Jarrett Kinney won the tournament with a 75, while Brandon Diblasi (79) and Dan DePrey (80) also contributed in key ways.
Crystal Lake South returns seniors Austin Wiggerman and Geoff Pietsch. Senior Brandon Jarva is a senior transfer student from Massachusetts where he played on a state-championship golf team.
“I think we’ll surprise some people here and there,” said South coach Curt Wadlington. “We’re going to compete and see what happens.”
Jacobs was second in the conference last year and returns senior Sean Kozak (2011 state qualifier) and junior Chris Boyle (sectional qualifier last year). Freshman Billy Walker will be a key addition.
“We have a very competitive group of golfers, all of which have made improvement in their games over the summer. I would expect to be competitive with the top teams in our conference.”
Dundee-Crown returns senior Brandon Bartelt from last year’s team. Junior Shane Lubecker will also help.
“We’re going to be very patient this year,” said D-C coach Bob Sweeney. “We have to focus on making little strides and improving and shooting better scores each time out.”
Hampshire returns senior Kyle Carbone, junior Geoff Back and sophomores Drew Doran and Jake Tuttle. Seniors Tom Super, P.J. Bridges and Joe Carrozza could be strong contributors and freshman Nick Swierczynski will have an opportunity to contribute at the varsity level.
“We have made a number of improvements in the off-season,” said Hampshire coach Jeff Howe. “Overall scoring is lower and more consistent. We still have room for growth. We have a lot of underclassmen who have improved. We will win some matches and maybe surprise a team or two.”
St. Edward returns seniors Brian Jones and Ian Pattison and juniors Dan Winters and John and Michael Butzow. Freshman Michael Mattas and Aaron Wolf are key additions to the team. The Green Wave took 12th at the Larkin invite. Winters shot 78.
“We have a hardworking group of kids,” said St. Edward coach Greg Winters. “Everybody is a year older so the increased maturity level has helped. Their scores are getting better. We’re hoping we can be consistent and around and under our averages this year.”
Westminster Christian returns junior Logan Hopp ad sophomore Andrew Howard. Sophomore Matt Swing is new to the varsity as is junior transfer Connor Rejman (transferred from Barrington and sat out a year).
“Connor will be our No. 1 player. He’s a real solid player,” said Westminster coach John Wedell. “We are going to be much improved from last year. We have the potential to be the best team Westminster has ever had. I expect we will vide for conference honors. We have no seniors. We have the potential to be good for a couple of years.”
Elgin Academy has shifted its home matches from longtime track Wing Park in Elgin to Golf Club of Illinois in Algonquin,
The Hilltoppers finished fourth in the Independent School League last year and return senior state qualifier Andrew Dykun, who averaged a 39 for nine holes last year. Senior Beck Blair and sophomore returning sectional qualifier Gannon Cottone give Elgin Academy two other key scoring options. Freshman Frankie Bisconti will also figure into the varsity scoring mix.
“We have four or five players with the ability to score,” said Hilltoppers coach Bill Pearson. “Our overall outlook is positive. We’re looking to surpass our 2011 achievements.”