Benet roll to Plainfield North title

Updated: August 18, 2011 1:54PM

Benet’s girls golf team has set high goals for itself this season.

If the first two meets of the fall are any indication, the Redwings will be contending all season.

They followed up a third-place finish behind state powers Marian Catholic and Homewood-Flossmoor at Coyote Run Monday by tying a school record with a 328 while winning the 16-team Plainfield North Invitational at Whitetail Ridge Tuesday.

The score was 22 strokes lower than second-place Metea Valley.

“Our expectations are to win the conference and the regional, but we still have a long way to go,” Benet coach Tony LaScala said. “Today, I’m real pleased because we had four scores under 90, and that’s what you need.”

Leading the way for Benet was senior Christy Callahan, who was the individual medalist with a 77. She shot even par over her final nine holes, which started on No. 18 in the shotgun format, to help her improve her score by five strokes over Monday.

“I had two doubles on the back, but I came back with a couple of birdies,” Callahan said. “I came back on the front and started with two birdies to kick it off and wound up shooting even (over her final nine holes). We’ve all been playing pretty consistently. I like where our team is this year. We’re really experienced and we know each other really, really well. I really like our team this year.”

Emily Callahan followed Christy Callahan’s lead by shooting a 79. Emily Brown shot an 85 and junior Ali Mahoney shot an 87 from the No. 5 spot to round out Benet’s scoring.

Metea Valley, featuring a senior class for the first time this year, shot a respectable 350 in its first action of the season, good for second place. Natalya Schleebs led the way with an 82, with Amy Lundstram and Anna Petersen each adding 88s. LaTira Brown’s 92 from the No. 6 spot also counted for the Mustangs.

“Natalya has played out here before and shot a 79, so I think she’s slightly disappointed,” Metea coach Mark Jager said. “She had some putts she missed. Same with Anna. She had six three-putts. Some room for improvement, but a solid start to the year. Three girls in the 80s, which is solid. That’s what we need to do.”

Neuqua Valley finds itself in a rare rebuilding mode, carding a 408. The highlight for the Wildcats came from No. 1 player Kyleigh Dallner, who fired a solid 81, the lone Wildcat to break 100 Tuesday.

“That was a solid score for her,” Neuqua coach John Keller said. “She was one of our better players last year, and she put a lot of work in this summer. I think an 81 is even better than we expected at this time. I was hoping for her to be around 90, something like that. She played well.”

Rosary had a solid day, shooting a 390, which was good for sixth place. Julia Callahan (83) and Victoria Phipps (85) paced the Royals.

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