Prospect pinpoints MSL championship
Prospect is the Mid-Suburban League boys golf champion for the second consecutive year.
This time, though, it didn’t have to share the crown.
The Knights (301) posted a second-place finish at Monday’s MSL meet at Arlington Lakes Golf Club, which combined with their undefeated conference mark gave them enough points to win the title again — this time outright.
In 2011, Prospect shared the championship with Barrington.
The Broncos won Monday’s meet with a score of 298, but couldn’t overtake the Knights.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” said Knights coach Tom Martindale of his team. “It’s a great accomplishment and they deserve it.”
Ryan Maloney and Josh Johnson led the winners with scores of 74, while Barrington senior Nick Schippel won individual medalist honors with a 71 at the water hazard-laden course.
“Nick is a great example as to how hard work and perseverance pays off,” said Broncos coach Mike Kallenbach. “In his freshman and sophomore seasons, he didn’t play in too many matches. Then in his junior year he became an impact player on the varsity, and this year he worked his way up to number two. He’s passionate about the game and he loves the big stage.”
“I just played solid golf today,” Schippel said.
Senior Greg Conrad, last year’s individual titleist, shot 74 to help lead Barrington to the tourney win and a second place overall MSL finish.
Matt Lynch of Palatine (74) tied Conrad, Johnson and Maloney for the day’s second-best individual score, while Connor Maytnier of the Broncos and Ryan White from Elk Grove each carded 75’s.
Kenny Mleko of Hersey fired a 76, as did Wheeling golfers Jack Ferguson and Zack Nauert, while Fremd boasted consistent 77s from Zach Isoda, Gibsyn Martin and Zach Schutz — leading the Vikings to third place on the day and the same finish in the conference overall.
Matt Eilrich from Buffalo Grove, Matt Johnstone of Hersey and Matt Kuzniar of host Rolling Meadows also excelled with 77s, while Grant Gavin (76) and Jeff Blethen (77) made clutch contributions to Prospect’s win.
The Knights have now won 3 of the last 4 MSL titles.
“This was very important to us,” said Prospect’s Johnson of the outright crown. “It’s quite an achievement to be the best among a group of very, very good teams.”
Teammate Maloney agreed.
“This was our goal from the beginning of the year,” said the senior.
Brad Powell from Barrington fired a 78, as did Dan Wojtowicz of Meadows, while the Bronco’s Garrett Danelz, Prospect’s Tyler Yarwood, and Grant Manno of Hersey finished at 79 on what Huskies coach Dan Caporusso called one of the toughest layouts in the area.
“It was revenge of the Lakes today,” said Caporusso. “This course came out fighting.”