State golf: Furtney, St. Charles North girls have hardware in sight
St. Charles North's girls golf team and junior standout Megan Furtney stand poised to bring home some prime state hardware from the Class 2A IHSA state finals in Decatur after Friday's stellar showing.
Furtney shot an even-par 72 and is in a four-way tie for the individual lead, while the North Stars are tied with Barrington for second place in the team race, both 10 shots behind leader New Trier which shot a 303.
Furtney was consistent in her Friday round, shooting even 36s on each side. The round included five birdies, including four on the back nine.
"I was keeping the ball in play. I hit 16 out of 18 greens in reg(ulation)," Furtney said. "The pin placements were pretty forgiving. I was able to hit a lot of shots to about eight feet."
Furtney shares the lead with Schaumburg's Tiffany Corwin, Mattoon's Kira Wolf and O'Fallon's Alyssa McMinn.
Sarah Arnold shot 77 for the Stars while Emma Hayes added an 80 and Katelyn David an 84.
"We want to make sure we don't put too much pressure on ourselves," Furtney said of Saturday's final round.
Class 3A boys: Geneva is standing in fifth place as a team after shooting a 308 on Friday in Bloomington-Normal. Hinsdale Central is the team leader with a 295. Tyler Isenhart led Geneva with a 73, which is tied for seventh individually. Jack McDonald shot 75 for the Vikings, Nick Geen had a 78 and Teegan Ebel an 82. Jacobs' Garrett Tighe also shot 73 to join the seventh-place tie while West Aurora's Ryan Vanderway cracked the top 25 with a 76.
Class 2A boys: Kaneland junior Will Marshall shot a 71 Friday to earn a fourth-place tie heading into Saturday's final round. Knights' freshman Ryan Milton is tied for 18th with a 75. Morton's Tommy Kuhl shot a sizzling 63 to take the individual lead.
Kevin McGavin contributed to this report