Girls golf: Multi-talented Zheng has grand senior plans

John Keller has been the sole girls golf coach at Neuqua Valley since the south Naperville high school welcomed its first students in the fall of 1997.

Along the way, Keller had such athletes as Jessica Yuen, a back-to-back Class AA state champion who never finished worse than runner-up at Hickory Point in Decatur.

Then there was Hannah Buck, who had a celebrated career at St. Louis University after four state-qualifying tours of duty at Neuqua Valley.

Carissa Werlinger had a charismatic flair on the golf course in leading the Wildcats to three consecutive state berths in the initial stages of the new millennium.

But Keller is quite certain Sarah Zheng is inching ever closer to becoming the fourth member of the Wildcats' Mount Rushmore.

"She works as hard as anyone I have ever had," Keller said of Zheng, the Wildcats' senior leader who captured the DuPage Valley Conference championship last fall a week before duplicating the feat at the Class 2A Oswego East regional. "No exaggeration. She is driven and focused, with a great instinct for detail."

A year ago, fall sports could not definitively call their seasons complete without a state tournament.

Zheng is one of only a handful of girls in all the western suburbs who can lay claim to having state-tournament experience after finishing in a 35th-place tie as an at-large competitor in the 2019 state finals.

"As the only girl from Neuqua, it was a little lonely at first," Zheng said of a distinct early memory of Hickory Point.

Following the conclusion of the truncated golf season last fall, Zheng spent the bulk of the remainder of the school year honing her game in Florida while remaining ever-vigilant with her academic requirements online.

"She is an excellent student, an accomplished violinist," Keller said.

Zheng is confident her time spent in suburban Orlando was indispensable to the progression in her game.

"I would say one of my biggest strengths is tee to green," Zheng said. "If I make mistakes I am able to get out of them."

Zheng performs a role that extends far beyond sand saves.

"She is a true leader," Keller said. "The other kids on the team love her."

"Sarah is very responsible," said Neuqua Valley sophomore Rebecca Wu, whom Keller expects to augment Zheng as the No. 2 player in the Wildcats' lineup. "She is like the mother of the group. That is a great quality of hers."

"Sarah keeps me calm when I am playing," Neuqua Valley senior Brooke Vandermyde said. ""She carries us on her shoulders."

Zheng has an overriding ambition for her final prep season on the links, a viewpoint which underscores her knowledge of program history.

"I think it is long overdue that we made it to state as a team," Zheng said. "That would be a perfect way for me to end my senior season."

The Wildcats, runner-up to New Trier in 2000, will look to end an 18-year state-finals drought this fall.