Boys golf: Naperville Central completes its DVC championship season
Thursday was the first official day of fall and it made itself known to those competing at the DuPage Valley Conference boys golf meet at Blackberry Oaks Golf Course in Bristol.
Jackets had to be broken out and the first fall wind was quick to appear.
But that didn't stop some excellent individual and team performances from happening.
Naperville Central shot a 316 en route to winning the tournament. Combined with its eight points for winning four dual meets during the regular season, that put it over the top for the overall championship.
Following in the tournament standings were Waubonsie Valley (320), Metea Valley (324), Neuqua Valley (325), Naperville North (334) and DeKalb (348).
"This is awesome. This gives us a lot of momentum going in," said Central's Joey Carney who shot a 79.
Teammate Matthew Sims was third overall with a 76. He said that Blackberry's greens are fast, providing a challenge. But he stressed all the golfers were facing that same challenge.
"They were pretty fast. But that's how it was for everyone. Some players do well on fast greens, others don't," Sims said.
James Cavanagh shot an 80 and Erik Lenz hit an 81 to round out the Redhawks' team score. Also competing were Dan Rabinovich, Kyle Closset, Rowan Schmidt and Brady Schultze.
The individual conference championship medal went to Waubonsie's Arjun Iyengar who racked up a one-under par 71.
"I came into today not expecting to finish on top. This is really special," Iyengar said. "I started off the season in a slump, but I finished third at the Aurora City Invite and that got me going."
Metea Valley's Patrick McGrath was second overall at 75. Teammate Kyle Bucher hit for a 78.
"The course was tough today. I was glad to see how the team finished," he said.
Top scorer for Naperville North was Zach Roos (77) with Parth Vora leading Neuqua with an 81.
DeKalb's top finisher was Aidan Lange with an 83. The Barbs will be at the Class 3A Huntley regional at the Pinecrest Golf Club on Wednesday.
That same day Metea, Central, North, Neuqua and Waubonsie are all at the West Aurora regional which will be decided at the Orchard Valley Golf Course in Aurora.
"They (the Redhawks) are playing confidently. This puts them in the postseason in the right frame of mind," said Redhawks coach Barry Baldwin.