A work in progress

Crystal Lake Central's J.B. Garoufalis watches his approach shot into the 13th green during Monday's Barrington Invitational at Biltmore Country Club in Barrington. Garoufalis led the Tigers with a 78 to finish eighth overall. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com) (Travis Haughton ())

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

BARRINGTON – The Crystal Lake Central boys golf team has had its eyes on qualifying for the state tournament ever since Grayslake Central edged the Tigers by one stroke in sectionals last year.

The Tigers will admit, however, that they still have a long way to go if they want to avenge last season’s crushing defeat.

On Monday, Central finished seventh out of 12 teams in the Barrington Invitational at Biltmore, shooting 342 as a team.

St. Charles East (308) won the tournament, and Prairie Ridge (367) finished 10th.

St. Charles East’s Jordan Wetsch shot a 1-over-par 72 to earn medalist honors for the second consecutive year. J.B. Garoufalis led the Tigers with a 78 and finished eighth overall.

“Some of the holes were playing pretty tough today, but I made some good par saves, and I made a bunch of up-and-downs, which really helped,” Garoufalis said.

“My driving was a little off, but I had a lot of recovery shots.”

Garoufalis, who was 3 over on the front nine and 4 over on the back, said he did not have his best stuff, but the junior was satisfied with how the round turned out.

“As far as how well I struck the ball, this was probably one of the worst rounds I’ve played so far,” Garoufalis said. “But as far as an overall round score, it’s up there.

“I’m pretty happy with how I was able to rally on some bad shots off the tee.”

Brent Wadzita (86), Corban Murphy (87) and Colin Rand (91) rounded out the scoring for the Tigers.

Central coach Mike Hermann would like to see more improvement from tournament to tournament, and he believes the Tigers are capable of performing at a higher level.

“Some guys on this team have the ability to step up their game,” Hermann said. “They just haven’t found it yet.”

“I’m hoping that magic light switch goes on. I’m just waiting for it, but in the meantime, we’re going to work on the little things, correct them in practice and go from there.”

Prairie Ridge was led by senior Alex Frey’s 88, followed by Stuart Buthod (92), Pat Biewald (92) and Stevie Rinn (95).

The Wolves also fell short of qualifying for state last year, falling three shots behind the Tigers in the same sectional.

Their best golfer from last season, Robinson Logue, qualified for state and graduated.

“We’re a pretty young team,” Frey said. “I’ve tried my best to lead by example for the other guys and I think we’ve been making strides each time out.”

“We should compete with every team we face for the rest of the season. I’m not saying we’re going to go undefeated the rest of the way, but we’re going to push ourselves to do better.”