Boys golf: Motivated Barrington goes low to win MSL tourney

Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said it was a "wake-up call."

Broncos junior golfer Walker Grelle added that it "gave us a lot of motivation."

Both coach and player were referring to Wednesday's Mid-Suburban League dual meet against Hersey, where the talented Huskies defeated Barrington, handing the Broncos their only loss of the conference season.

"We were a little bummed yesterday," said Grelle. "That's why we played so well today. We had some fire in our belly."

The Broncos recovered to turn things completely around, firing a team score of 296 at Palatine Hills Thursday at the MSL tournament.

That score, combined with their 10-1 conference play mark, gave Barrington the overall Mid-Suburban League championship.

Conant was second at Palatine Hills with a 307, followed by Prospect (311) and Palatine (314).

Overall, when combining regular season play and the tournament, the Knights were runner-up behind Barrington, with the Cougars third.

"We played really well today," said Grelle, "under tough conditions. It was windy out there, but we were able to battle back after that tough loss yesterday."

"The kids really stepped up, it was fun to watch," added Tucker. "I couldn't be happier with how they responded."

Sophomore Drew Schauenberg led the way for the Broncos, carding a 4-under 68 to earn medalist honors.

Schauenberg birdied four holes on the back nine to secure the win.

"He's amazing," said Tucker of Schauenberg. "Only a sophomore, and he's been producing since he got here as a freshman. This is the time of the season where the lights are shining the brightest, and right now, he's really stepping up for us."

"On the front nine, I was hitting the ball all right, but didn't make a lot of putts," said Schauenberg. "On the back nine I started heating up."

Nicolas Simon of Conant was runner-up with a 3-under 69. The junior, who finished fifth at last year's Class 3A state meet (and shot a hole-in-one), made a late charge on the back nine by birdieing 15, 16 and 18.

Kasey May of Palatine was third individually with a 73, while teammate Pablo Castro shot 74 and in doing so, earned MSL player of the year honors (dual meet scores combining with the tournament).

It's the second year in a row Castro has been the POY, and the junior said he worked hard to improve his game leading up to this season.

"I made it a priority to add distance in the offseason, making sure to work out, try to get bigger and get my swing speed up," he said.

"Last year I was hitting eight and nine irons to greens, this year it's gap wedges and sand wedges. I think it makes it a lot easier to score when you're hitting wedges into greens."

Braeden Newby of Fremd and Jayden Lim of Hoffman Estates, a freshman, each shot 74 as well.

"Just play smart, have a good mindset for each hole, and stay consistent," Lim said of his approach to the title meet.

Luke Kruger and Patrick Raupp had the top scores for Prospect, each firing a 76, while Tyler Wengronowitz of Rolling Meadows finished with a 77.

Grelle (74), William Lange (75) and Alex Lechuga (79) all contributed to the Barrington win.

"My teammates, they're all great players," said Schauenberg. "I can't wait to hopefully see us compete at state this year as a team and get a good finish."