St. Viator charmed by regional title; Prospect's Garmoe top medalist
Matt Trimberger was feeling the right kind of urgency off the tee Tuesday at Old Orchard.
"I was hitting my driver really well," said the St. Viator senior of his play at the Hersey boys golf regional. "The conditions here today were pretty much perfect. The greens were fast, but not so fast that you couldn't make a putt. Just a great day overall."
A great day for not only Trimberger, but for his Lions teammates as well.
Trimberger fired an outstanding 1-over par 71 to take the second place individual medal and lead his team to a regional championship with a score of 302.
Preston Drehobl (76, fourth overall) and Liam Warner (77), both seniors, also helped drive St. Viator to its ninth regional title in school history.
Not to mention the assist they got from the "lucky duck."
The bright yellow stuffed animal, won in a claw machine by junior Nick Bavaro after the Lions' first tournament of the year, has been the team's mascot and good luck charm all season long.
"Master of the claw," said Trimberger of Bavaro. "That duck was definitely lucky today."
Prospect's Robert Garmoe won medalist honors with another in his resume of exceptional performances.
The junior, who was Mid-Suburban league JV medalist in his freshman season and the varsity titlest last fall, shot even-par 70 at Old Orchard - a round that included a stellar 33 on the back nine.
Garmoe, who also won last year's Prospect regional tourney, capped his day by sinking a par putt at the 18th hole, to the applause of the crowd.
Afterward, Garmoe said Tuesday was all about the team and not about individual glory.
"I was just trying to give our team an opportunity to advance to next week," said Garmoe.
The junior, along with teammates Nick Tenuta (77), Brendan O'Brien (80) and Charlie Busch (85) helped the Knights achieve that objective as Prospect (312) finished second at the regional to advance along with St. Viator to next Monday's sectional tournament at Bridges of Poplar
Creek.
Rolling Meadows, this year's MSL East champions, earned the final sectional qualifying spot on a tiebreaker over Maine South.
Both squads shot 315, but Rolling Meadows advanced on the better fifth score. The Mustangs were led by Nick Rhyan (77), Jimmy Ingolia (78), Matt O'Grady (79) and Kyle Kornblum (81).
An 83 from Mustangs senior Jimmy O'Donnell proved to be the tie-breaking round.
"This means a lot to us," said O'Donnell. "Rolling Meadows golf hasn't been on the map for a long time, so I'm happy that this is the team that puts us back on the map."
"We knew we'd be pretty good this year. We didn't have any seniors last year - this year we've got four. We all put in a lot of hard work over the summer to get to this moment."
The host Huskies didn't advance as a team, but saw four golfers - Kevin Cooke (80), Jason Deans (81), Dan Wolf (82) and Tommy Lumsden (82) - move on to the sectional meet.
Three players from Maine South - Tim Zelek, Michael George and Joe Tonioni - punched their sectional ticket Tuesday, while Steve Bukielski of Schaumburg also extended his season by firing a 78.
The advancement capped an inspiring comeback by Bukielski, who suffered a broken wrist late last year but surprisingly said that might have been an asset to his game.
"It actually made me a better player," the senior said. "I know that sounds weird to say but it's true. It made me slow down my pace."
Bukielski said he started the day so-so but improved greatly as the round went on.
"I got it together on the back nine," said Bukielski, "but unfortunately I also lipped out about 5 birdie putts."
Alex Harrison from Hoffman Estates also qualified for the Bridges by carding a 79, while Nick Tudor from the Saxons did the same with an
82.
Freshman Tim Crawford posted the final counted score of the day for the champion Lions, a 78, while John Carlson, another Viator senior,
finished at 79 - and all that achievement, inspired by a feathered little mascot.
"I've got to take some of the credit," joked Bavaro, a junior, about his charmed role with the Lions. "Seriously, though, it was great to see our seniors out there today playing so well. They really deserve all the credit."