St. Charles East successfully defends Geneva Invite title

Scoring conditions could not have been more optimal at Mill Creek for the 18-team Geneva Invitational Thursday afternoon.

St. Charles East leaders Danny Buetow and Mike Bertke more than took advantage in leading the Saints in defense of their title in Geneva.

The two combined for 10 birdies in shooting level-par 71s as the duo was augmented by a 74 from Daniel Haugen and a 78 from Kevin Sobieski to give St. Charles East a 294-301 victory over Marmion.

DeKalb, whose Alex Freeman defeated Buetow and Bertke on a score card playoff for medalist honors, was third.

Geneva Blue, Batavia, St. Charles North, Waubonsie Valley, Glenbard South, Kaneland, Geneva White, South Elgin, Bartlett, Sycamore, Burlington Central, Aurora Central Catholic, Larkin and Elgin rounded out the field.

"I know I don't have a perfect swing," Bertke said. "I know I can go out and shoot low scores with the swing I have."

"It was all coming together," Buetow said. "I was hitting the ball very well and I was putting well, too."

"There are so many good players out here that if this were the sectional, 74 wouldn't have gotten out," St. Charles East coach John Stock said.

Kaneland senior Jake Hed was the lone player to fashion a 1-over 72 to garner solo fourth place.

"I knew I had to go low if I wanted to be in the top five," Hed said.

All four Marmion scores were in the 70s as Johnny Callahan was one of five players to finish at 73.

Like Hed, Callahan finished with a flourish as the twosome had five combined birdies to end their rounds.

"We did pretty well as a team, though some the guys thought they could have done better," Callahan said.

The other local players to finish at 2-over on the round were Tyler Isenhart (Geneva Blue), Jake Mueschlegel (St. Charles North) and returning Batavia state qualifier Andrew Nelson.

Geneva junior Casey Prentiss aced the eighth hole with a pitching wedge.

"I didn't see it go in," Prentiss said. "It was a blind tee shot."

Joe Sherman has already played in two Class 2A state tournaments for Burlington Central in an equal number of attempts.

The Rockets' junior fired a 76 on Thursday.

"I realized right away that (my score) wasn't going to be good enough (for a medal)," Sherman said. "I had a lot of fun out there. The guys I played with were awesome."

Longtime Bartlett coach Tommy Boyle pinch-hit for Jim Dinkeller as Brett Grabarek led the way with a 79 for the Hawks.

"We had all kids out there; no seniors," Boyle said.

Glenbard South, the reigning Class 2A state runner-up, gave St. Charles East everything it could handle last year in falling on the tiebreaker after the teams' sizzling 291 totals.

But the Raiders were considerably off their pace from a year ago.

Russell Matos, fifth in state last year, was in his customary position for Glenbard South in leading the way with a 2-over 73.

"I felt really good coming into the round," said Matos, who anchored the Raiders' 315 total. "My ball-striking was going very well. I felt solid all day. I wish I had more putts out there."

Waubonsie Valley was a shot better than Glenbard South.

The Warriors had the most consistent scores of any of the teams as Jake Wright, Jack Troy, Ryan Pawlowski, Nathan Martahan, Parker Hoffman and Conrad Esch all had rounds between 77 and 81.

"We played well as a team," said Wright, who paced the Warriors with his 6-over total. "I probably left 4 shots out there with my putting."