Vernon Hills is dominant

Updated: October 4, 2011 7:18PM

Some surprising news came out of the IHSA Class 2A (small schools) regional boys golf tournament on Tuesday at Antioch Golf Club.

It wasn’t that Vernon Hills dominated the team competition. That was expected.

And it wasn’t that Vernon Hills golfers finished 1-2 in the individual scoring.

What WAS surprising is that neither of the top two finishers in the regional WA named Eric Swanson.

Last week, Swanson was medalist at the prestigious North Suburban Conference tournament.

On Tuesday, he passed the baton, to so speak, to teammates Chris Edwards and Jake Zoll, who carried the team to a big victory.

Edwards was medalist with a 5-over 76, and Zoll was right behind him with a 78.

Swanson contributed a solid 80 and Alex Leigeber had an 82 to round out the winners’ scoring.

In golf, the top three teams in a regional punch a ticket to sectional play, which means Vernon Hills (316) will be joined by Lakes (328) and Grayslake Central (342) in the sectional on Monday at Pheasant Run GC in St. Charles.

Lakes, the host for the regional, counted a 79 by John O’Connor, an 83 by Jake Bathery, an 85 by Matt Hirsch and an 81 by Logan Edwards.

Grayslake Central advanced with a six-shot margin over fourth-place Marian Central.

Ram scorers were Kyle Balling (82), Tanner Hermes (83), Dan Reed (86) and Dan Choi (91).

Besides the top three teams, also qualifying for sectional play were the top 10 scorers not on a qualifying team.

That list included Grant Smith (81) and Avery Cielak (82) of Antioch, and Trevor Middleton (85) and Luke Bernard (88) of Wauconda.

Vernon Hills’ toughest competition at the sectional might come from Sterling, which shot 307 in winning its regional on Tuesday.

The top three teams in the sectional will qualify for the state tournament, which will be held Oct. 14-15 at Illinois State University in downstate Normal.

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