Freshmen help Metea to team title

Updated: August 18, 2011 1:38PM

Metea Valley may be in its first year competing as a school with seniors, but the Mustangs’ boys golf team had success with all of their players from all grade levels Tuesday at the Panther Stableford Invite.

With a score of 129, the Mustangs won the 12-team meet, hosted by Oswego at Blackberry Oaks Golf Course. Normal Community was next with a 127, followed by Normal West with a 126.

In this modified scoring system, golfers were given one point for a bogey, two points for making par, four for a birdie and eight for an eagle. The eight-best front and back nine scores were counted and the top five individuals and top two teams received plaques.

The Mustangs were led by freshman Dane Nelson’s 35, which was good enough for second place overall. Senior Adam Kreiner also finished with a 35, but the tiebreaker put him at third place. Freshman Jeremy Forbes posted a 30, followed by Matt Marsh’s 29. Both Mike Fort and Bill Finnerty scored a 20.

“It’s pretty insane to have two freshmen compete in a varsity meet and score,” Metea Valley coach Ryan Hall said. “To have a playoff on your own team is kind of neat and interesting.”

Oswego finished fourth as a team with a score of 125. The Panthers’ No. 1 Matt Anderson topped the competition with his meet-best score of 40. This is the second consecutive meet the senior has finished No. 1 overall, as he placed first at Aurora Christian’s meet on Monday.

“It’s the best golf I’ve ever played,” Anderson said. “I had a lot of confidence in my swing and I hit the ball well today.”

“(Anderson) has his mind right and is focusing on all the right things,” Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann added. “This is really good for him. He’s learned a lot in the past few years. He’s a senior and it’s his time.”

Aside from Anderson, Oswego was led by Mike Wenc (32), Kenny Papke (26), Brad Coates (22), Tyler Williams (22) and Chris Britton (20).

Joliet Catholic placed fifth (115), followed by Sycamore (113), Plainfield Central (107) and Oswego East (104).

Evan Tschida earned fifth place overall for the Wolves with his score of 34. Other contributors were Austin Hwang (25), Matt Denor (21), Dylan Raess (19) and Jake Briscoe (17).

“I’m relatively pleased given the fact our regular No. 1 wasn’t here today (he was out sick),” Oswego East coach Jason Buckley said. “I’m pleased with the way Evan played — he’s really come a long way and gave himself a good chance to score some points for us.”

Lincoln-Way East and Yorkville tied for ninth with 101. Plainfield North was next with 96 and Plainfield South rounded out the competition with a 90.

The Foxes, who were without one of their top golfers, were led by Brant Leggett, a transfer from Mississippi, in the top spot. He scored a 27, followed by Tyler Bonnett (25), Mitch Edwards (23), Kaity Anderson (22), Ryan May (21) and Fred Washburn (16).

“For playing at our home course, I thought we’d do a little better,” said new Foxes coach Luke Engelhardt, an assistant who took over for the retired Jerry Farber. “We practice here, and our practice numbers were a little better than how we did today. Brant did a good job ... he did well. Hopefully he’ll keep it up.”

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