Waubonsie edges Metea to win conference meet
| Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
Updated: September 27, 2011 9:35PM
WEST CHICAGO — Coming into the Upstate Eight Conference girls golf meet at St. Andrews Tuesday, it appeared on paper that the championship would come down to Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley.
And just as was the case early in the season in dual meet play, Waubonsie played just well enough to edge the upstart Mustangs.
The Warriors shot a season-best 332 to outdistance their district rivals by four strokes to win the UEC crown.
“We did the same thing last year, we turned it on at the end,” Waubonsie coach John Farnan said. “Our scores last year were about the same as they were this year. We went undefeated through the year while still not playing our best. At the right time of the year, this is when it really counts. Those are solid scores.”
The most solid score came from freshman Bing Singhsumalee, who fired a 73 in her first-ever conference meet. She wound up finishing second in the UEC player of the year standings behind Geneva sophomore Abby Luchtenburg, who was the medalist Tuesday with a 71.
“It’s kind of weird, but I enjoy playing in the rain,” Singhsumalee said. “That’s just me. It was pretty hard. Some of the holes were really bad. I didn’t have any birdies today, unfortunately. My putting was really iffy today. I don’t know what happened. But my ball striking was pretty good and my drives were OK, so it was a good overall performance for me.”
Fellow all-conference pick Courtney Williams added an 80 for the Warriors, who also counted scores from Rebecca O’Bryan (89) and Maddie Phillips (90).
Metea beat its previous best score for an 18-hole event by a whopping 14 strokes with its 336 Tuesday. A career-best 76 from Natalya Schleebs led the way for the Mustangs, who threatened the UEC crown in just their second varsity season.
“Everybody played really well across the board,” Metea coach Mark Jager said.
Those scores are good for us, and in bad conditions. I’m proud of them. They did a great job. They’re peaking at the right time. Maybe we need some good rain next week (at regionals), too.”
Amy Lundstram (89) and Alyna Vaughan (84) each earned all-conference nods, along with Schleebs, for Metea. Anna Petersen shot an 87.
Neuqua Valley wound up shooting a 369, led by all-conference pick Kyleigh Dallner, who shot an 83 for the Wildcats. Faith Goetz (93), Emily Brzezinski (95) and Erin McGrath (98) also scored for Neuqua.
© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Comments Click here to view or make a comment