Led by Brian Rourke’s 2-over-par round of 73 Saturday, Loyola held off some familiar faces–most notably New Trier and Lake Forest–to win the New Trier Invitational for the second year in a row.
The Ramblers faced New Trier and Lake Forest on Friday at the Highland Park Quad, which New Trier won handily by a 10-stroke margin.
But the same could not be said Saturday afternoon at Winnetka Golf Club, where Loyola shot a 307 to better the Trevians on their home course by three strokes. Lake Forest, which also shot 310, lost a fifth-man tiebreaker to New Trier and thus finished third.
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Rourke, a senior, was tied 73-73 with New Trier’s Rance Barber after 18, but Rourke shot par to Barber’s bogey on the second playoff hole to earn the individual title. Bob Rohr of Lake Forest finished third with a 75. Nick Lawler, who took fifth place with a 76, was Loyola’s only other top-10 finisher.
“The top five teams in this tournament are all in the same regional on Tuesday,” Loyola coach Ray DelFava said. “It was a good test for us. I still think New Trier and Lake Forest are the teams to beat, but I think we’ve proven that we can beat them.”
Tuesday’s Lake Forest regional will be held at the Lake Bluff Golf Course, where Rourke fired a 2-under-par 70 last weekend as Loyola captured the 13-team Lake Forest Invitational.
“He’s got some good momentum going into Tuesday,” said DelFava of Rourke, who shot a 36 on the front nine.
Lake Park Invitational: At the Indian Lakes East Course in Bloomingdale, York’s Justin Koscher shot an even-par 72 to edge Richard Franklin of Hinsdale Central by one stroke for the individual title. Carlos Sainz of Larkin finished third with a 75.
Besides Franklin, Kevin Gerow and Jeff Kotansky both placed in the top 10 to lead Hinsdale Central to the team title with a score of 306. St. Charles East, led by Mike Calkin’s fourth-place finish, took second with a 311.
— Jonathan Schoenberg
Girls swimming
Rosary’s Mary Descenza set another pool record as she helped the Royals capture their third straight invitational championship of the season.
Rosary won six of 12 events and piled up 276.5 points to edge second-place Neuqua Valley for top honors at the 11-team Sandburg Invitational.
Descenza set a Sandburg pool record in the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute 54.70 seconds). She was already on the school’s record board from top swims in previous years in the 100 butterfly, the 200 individual medley and as a member of a 4×50 medley relay squad.
“We swam OK,” Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. “[Neuqua] probably outswam us, but they also caught a couple of bad breaks.”
Rosary swept all three relays and got individual titles from freshman Malarie Schmidt in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke. Schmidt and Descenza also each swam on two first-place freestyle relays.
Neuqua Valley, which finished second with 257.50 points, had its team championship chances doused in the meet’s first event when the Wildcats were disqualified in the 4×50 medley relay for a false start.
“It’s always great to win, but it’s also great to learn some things,” said Neuqua coach Len Penkala, whose team had no event champions but displayed depth across the board. “And we learned that we can’t have the false start in the medley relay like we had. But it’s better to learn it here than at state.”
— Jack McCarthy
Boys soccer
St. Charles East 1, Lake Park 0 (2 OT): Pat Murphy’s goal in the second overtime gave the No. 4 Saints (9-1-5, 3-1-1) the edge in the Upstate Eight. Cort Harris had the shutout with five saves.
Buffalo Grove 3, Rolling Meadows 1: Kevin Love, Matt Hall and Mike Kurgan scored the goals for the No. 10 Bison (14-1, 3-0) in the Mid-Suburban East.
Barrington 2, Palatine 1 (2 OT): The Broncos (10-4-1, 2-2) prevailed in the Mid-Suburban West behind Ben Dyon’s game-winning goal, a penalty kick in the second overtime. Barrington trailed 1-0 before Steve Lannefeld scored with 2:02 remaining to force OT. Palatine fell to 10-3-1, 3-1.
Bartlett 7, IMSA 0: Matt Laman, Jody Hall and Nick Mercadante each had a goal and an assist to pace the Hawks (12-2-1) over Illinois Math and Science.
Brother Rice 2, St. Ignatius 0: Mike Walsh and Cesar Zambrano each scored for the Crusaders (7-9, 5-1) in the Catholic League.
Carmel 2, Benet 0: Adam Bieschke assisted on Andy Kozar’s goal, then scored an unassisted goal to lead the Corsairs (13-1-1, 6-0) in the East Suburban Catholic. Goalkeeper Ryan Foust had six saves for the shutout.
Lake Forest 3, Waukegan 0: Sean Marshall’s two goals led the Scouts (10-3-1).
Marmion 3, Marian Central 1: Gerardo Alvarez, Isaac Lee and Brad Hutter each scored for Marmion (13-2-2, 6-0) in the Suburban Catholic.
Oswego 3, Glenbard South 1: Brain Baier’s goal and two assists helped Oswego (9-5, 7-3) in the Suburban Prairie Red.
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Providence 6, St. Laurence 0: The Celtics (11-1-3, 6-0-1) cruised in the Catholic League behind Jamie Cody’s hat trick.
Vernon Hills 2, Northridge Prep 1: Eric Kassebaum and Mark Paulson scored the goals for the Cougars (6-7-2).
Wheaton Warrenville South 3, Lyons 0: Chris Vandurem, Mark Pappenbrook and Matt Galanes each tallied a goal in the first 20 minutes of the second half to lift the Tigers (6-4-2) in a non-conference match. Goalkeeper Chris Halley recorded three saves to earn the shutout.
“Overall, we did a very good job of maintaining the tempo of the game and asserting ourselves,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said.
Girls cross country
Wheaton North Invitational: Moline senior Jill Steffens, 28th in last year’s state final, surprised the field with her victory in 14 minutes 24 seconds in the top flight. Naperville North’s Lisa Bonistalli finished second in 14:33, and defending champion Samantha Polock of Wheaton North ran third in 14:48.
Glenbard North did not have an individual champion in the seven-flight meet, but Kristin Whitezell’s eighth-place run in the top flight helped the Panthers claim the championship over Sandburg 37-40.
“We’ve got a team that I and the assistant coaches knew was gradually getting better,” Glenbard North coach Bud Swanson said.
“With the teams that you have here, top five is good.”
Naperville North, third with 41 points, had four flight champions: Joanna Veth in Flight 2, Christine Wang in Flight 4, Elizabeth Higgins in Flight 5 and Bryn Levitan in Flight 7. The Huskies had a runner drop out of Flight 6 because of illness.