Kaneland wins first title in eight years
Hayley Guyton and the Kaneland boys golf team officially parted company on Wednesday afternoon.
But the reigning Class AA state runner-up in girls golf made a memorable farewell to her male teammates.
The Knights' top player had one last salvo to the end the regular season at the Northern Big 12 East Conference tournament at Whitetail Ridge Golf Club in Yorkville.
"I couldn't think of a better way for her to play her last Kaneland team competition," Kaneland coach Mark Meyer said after Guyton was indispensable to the Knights' 316 total that bettered DeKalb by 5 strokes to break a regular-season deadlock with the Barbs. "What a great way to go out."
Playing her final four holes in 1-under par while only a 3-putt bogey away from closing out her regular-season career with a final nine-hole, level-par round, Guyton was instrumental in leading the Knights to their first league championship in eight years.
With her top-10, 7-over round of 78 that earned her all-conference honors, Guyton overcame a variety of emotions with several key putts for par down the stretch.
"When I was out there I was thinking about (my final competition against boys) quite a bit," Guyton said. "I'm kind of speechless about it. (Winning the conference tournament) is a nice accomplishment to do our senior year."
Guyton began her day of the shotgun start with a par at the ninth, and the senior was well within her game until a watery tee shot at the hazard-laden 17th led to a triple-bogey six.
Two more bogeys followed in succession.
"I kind of lost my focus on for those three holes," Guyton admitted.
But Guyton responded as always, playing the last seven holes in level par to give Kaneland an anchor score to augment Zack Douglas' out-of-nowhere 75.
"That's what I have been working on all year is making those putts under pressure," Guyton said of several conversions of 3-to-5 foot testers for par in her closing stretch.
But it was Douglas' lowest-ever round the junior had only broken 80 once before in a competitive round that also keyed the Knights' triumph over DeKalb, Yorkville the defending Western Sun Conference champion Morris, Sycamore and Rochelle.
"I didn't even think I was going to do that well," Douglas said of his twin 2-over, nine-hole rounds. "I was putting the ball where it needed to go. Just after I bogeyed a hole (coming in), I birdied the next and said, 'OK, I can keep doing this.'"
Troy Krueger (81 and Josh Schuberg (82) closed out the Knights' scoring; Adam Grams and Luke Kreiter are the other varsity starters.
"I thought we were sitting pretty well at the halfway mark," said DeKalb coach John Cordes, whose squad was tied for first with Kaneland entering. "We just didn't finish."
Guyton and her male teammates are heading in opposite directions fort the postseason.
"It does hurt, losing your No. 1 player for the regonals," Meyer said of the Knights' boys travel to Dixon on Tuesday.
Guyton will seek her fourth straight trip downstate with her first preliminary at the St. Charles East regional at St. Andrews.
"I'm looking forward to going back to (the girls') yardages," Guyton said after paring the three 500-plus yard par-5s at Whitetail.