Posted: Sept. 27, 2009 |(0) Comments

Though he's happy about his team's recent clinching of the North Shore Conference season championship, Whitefish Bay/Shorewood girls golf coach Bryan Rech is going to wait to reward his team until something a bit larger is achieved. Like a state tournament berth.

"I'll get to them after the (WIAA) regional meet," he said. "I'm not a total hardcase but I am close (laughs)."

That's because he wants his veteran team to remember the feeling of the state tournament berth it earned two seasons ago and think about how good that would feel again.

"We're probably as close (in terms of talent) as we were that first year (of the co-op)," he said. "We're really hoping to make state. We have that caliber of people.

"Still, it's nice to be conference champs. We would have liked to have gone undefeated, but Homestead was playing on its home course (North Shore Country Club for the 18-hole league finale on Sept. 23) and they played well."

Peaking at right time

Indeed, the Highlanders did in Coach John Krueger's eyes. They turned in an 18-hole 371 total at North Shore Country Club, 10 shots better than the Blue Dukes with Highlanders team leader Katie Zganjar earning overall conference medalist honors.

The performance didn't change the final team standings, however, as Bay/Shorewood had won all the league nine-hole events leading into the meet, but it did give Homestead's Krueger some encouragement heading into the WIAA tournament series.

"The thing we'll take out of it," he said, "is that we're definitely playing better golf at a good time. We're not near our potential yet, but hopefully we'll hit that around the time of regional and sectional."

Homestead will take part in the Germantown regional on Wednesday while the Blue Dukes will be at the Brookfield Central regional.

The top four teams and first four individuals not on those teams will advance to sectional play. Bay will head to Ives Grove Golf Course in Racine on Oct. 6 while Homestead will head north to Westhaven Golf Course in Oshkosh on the same day. The top two teams and first three individuals not on those teams will advance to the WIAA State Meet at University Ridge in Verona, Oct. 12 and 13.

Homestead was the Division I runner-up last season.

Practice, practice, practice

Rech said that Molly Baron and Leslie Fuda have really led the charge for his team this fall. Baron played well on the Wisconsin Junior LPGA circuit this summer and is ranked among the top 12 golfers for her age in the state.

"I've even got some college scouts inquiring about her," Rech said. "Leslie (Fuda) though, has really sharpened up her game and done a good job. What has really helped our consistency this fall is that we have really put a lot of effort into practice. We get the girls to focus on individual parts of their game and have them fix problems before they become major blowouts."

Krueger was very happy for Zganjar, one of the few returnees he had this fall after a large graduation class left the school last spring. Zganjar carded an 18-hole score of 87 to clinch her overall title.

"We and she reacted very well to things," Krueger said. "They had some construction on the course, and we were forced to play their blue nine (a longer track). Kids who were used to 150-yard approach shots now had to hit it 170 yards with bunkers and water surrounding the greens."

"It made it tough."

Krueger also praised the efforts of freshman Rachel Morris (90).

"We're playing really good golf at this point," he said.

NSC golf results

TEAM SCORES FOR LEAGUE 18-HOLE FINALE: Homestead 371, Whitefish Bay/Shorewood 381, Germantown 460, Nicolet and Milwaukee Lutheran, incomplete.

FINAL INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE STANDINGS BY TEAM: Bay/Shorewood - Leslie Fuda (2), Keeley Wallis (3), Molly Baron (4), Maddie Middlestadt (7) and Katherine Matkom (11); Homestead - Katie Zganjar (1), Lauren Olson (5), Rachel Morris (6), Jessica Levine (8) and Sabrina Khan (9). Nicolet - Amy Hurwitz (10).