Sports
Central Boys Golf Ties For Second At DVC
Redhawks' bid to overtake Naperville North falls short at Bartlett Hills.
BARTLETT – Naperville Central's boys golf team put itself in a position where it could steal away the DuPage Valley Conference championship Thursday at Bartlett Hills.
If the Redhawks could win the tournament, they would overtake defending champion Naperville North and swipe the crown.
Instead, Central finished third behind the Huskies and Wheaton Warrenville South. As a result, the Redhawks tied for second with WWS in the DVC. The Redhawks shot a 324 Thursday.
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"We didn't play real well, but the nice part of the kids is they grind it out," Central coach Barry Baldwin said. "They keep battling. This would have been nice to have. We put ourselves in a position to win conference, but it didn't work out. The new season starts Tuesday (at regionals)."
The main bright spot on an otherwise rough afternoon for Central was the play of No. 4 golfer Jaskaran Sangha. He shot a season-low 75 to pace the Redhawks.
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"I made some minor adjustments over the weekend, and it finally came together," Sangha said. "I was just hitting the ball very well. The greens were rolling nice. They played pretty true."
Despite carding bogeys on the final two holes, Sangha had his best day of the season. That included chip-ins on both No. 2 (from the sand) and No. 11 (from the fringe) to help him along his way.
"It seemed like everything just kind of came together, no matter what he did," Baldwin said. "He found fairways and found greens and, out here, that's key. With the wind, it was real important that he kept out of trouble."
Peter Mandich scored a 37 on the back en route to an 80 for Central. No. 1 player John Doyle shot an 83 and Tim Lieser added an 86.
The competition gets no easier at regionals next week at the Links of Carillon in Plainfield. The Redhawks are part of the toughest field in the state, including the likes of DVC champ Naperville North and Upstate Eight Valley winner Waubonsie Valley.
"We're just staying optimistic," Sangha said. "It was just a bad day. We know we can play well. We play the regional course a lot and we know we can shoot low there. We just have to stay focused on that."
