Bulldogs Claim Own Golf Invitational

The St. Anthony High School boys golf team opened its 2012 season with a first place finish in its own invitational. The Bulldogs fired a 306 at Angus Links Golf Course in Windsor Monday.

"It is always nice to start the year on a high note," said Coach Phil Zaccari. "Angus Links was in great shape and was a good, fair challenge for all the golfers. This was a new venue for our invitaitonal and the management and staff did a great job preparing the course and taking care of the players.

"As a team we did pretty well. Joe Powell played a magnificent round finishing one under par (70). He was a couple over par after five but then came on with a number of birdies to take individual medalist honors. Dalton Anderson also played very steady placing fifth with a 77. Sophomore Garrett Hixenbaugh really stepped up in his first varsity tournament with a 79 to place 10th. We are happy that Effingham was able to join us this year as well. With Jackson Wendling finishing sixth and Anthony Barrett placing eighth, that brought five of the top 10 medals back to Effingham.  That shows what quality high school golf we have here in our community."

Scoring for the Bulldogs were Joe Powell 36-34 -- 70, Dalton Anderson 38-39 -- 77,  Garrett Hixenbaugh 36-43 -- 79 and Jack Niebrugge 39-41 -- 80. Scoring for Effingham were Jackson Wendling 39-39 -- 78, Anthony Barrett 36-43 -- 79, Anthony Lechman 41-39 -- 80 and Jake Linders 41-40 -- 80.

"This was our first tournament of the year," said EHS Coach Jeff Schafer. "We have some high expectations this year, so third was not really what we were looking for. We did have some good individual performances with Jake Linders and Sean Sandifer shooting career lows for 18 hole matches. We have a very strong lineup and it is nice to still finish in the top three when we don't play our best golf. Congratulations to Coach Zaccari, Joe Powell and the rest of the St. Anthony team as they played great and demolished a strong field. We will be back in action next Monday at the Champaign Centennial Invitational and we look to continue to improve over the next two months."

St. Anthony Invitational

Team Scores -- St. Anthony No. 1 306, Mount Carmel 315, Effingham 318, Carmi 326, Benton 331, Robinson 333, Collinsville 340, Murphysboro 340, Pleasant Plains 344, Kankakee Bishop McNamara 350, Decatur St. Teresa 351, Tuscola 362, Champaign St. Thomas More 368, Sullivan 399, St. Anthony No. 2 399

St. Anthony -- Joe Powell 70, Connor Greene 86, Jack Niebrugge 80, Garrett Hixenbaugh 79, Dalton Anderson 77, Cole Buehnerkemper 88

Effingham -- Jackson Wendling 78, Anthony Lechman 80, Anthony Barrett 79, Jake Linders 81, Sean Sandifer 97, Reed Schafer 89

Mount Carmel -- Chase Witsman 77, Christian Slaton 71, Ian Hipsher 92, Bridger Kolb 86, Daniel Dydo 85, Gage Iles 82

Carmi -- Andy Vaughn 83, Drew Brown 83, Neal Northcott 81, Colin Winter 79, Tucker Gray 99, Tyler Barbre 97

Benton -- Brandon Hammonds 84, Andrew Simpson 79, Jesse Sanders 81, Tyler Neal 87, Bennett Page 108, Connor Paffinbarger 114

Robinson -- Tom Goodman 84, Alex Brown 82, Tyelr Wright 87, James Gibson 87, Tristan Murphy 80, Zach Beard 116

Collinsville -- Jordan Bost 87, Keenai Sampson 75, Matt Sockoch 93, Zac Wagner 85, Austin Campbell 99, Evan Smith 97

Murphysboro -- Kody Rendleman 78, Cody  Wills 86, Dylan Miley 85, Kyle Chambers 91, Dylan Chambers 110

Pleasant Plains -- Matt Nika 81, Lucas Niemeier 80, Blake Bergman 93, Zach Ross 90, Mitch Kohler 103

Kankakee Bishop McNamara -- Anthony Gilbert 84, Lukas Kinstner 83, Gavin Bisaillion 91, Mitchell Shirley 110, Matt Lovell 92, Andrew Lewis 99

Decatur St. Teresa -- Jordan Lankaitis 82, Donavan Resch 80, Trey Nisser 105, Archie Britt 84, Connor Peveler 155

Tuscola -- Cameron Westjohn 79, Luke Heinz 96, Eddie Durham 97, Gunner Campbell 91, Dylan Taylor 99

Champaign St. Thomas More -- Christopher Tate 83, Jesse Dankle 93, Michael Kehl 92, Tyler Vodacek 100, Paul  Burton 116, Chandler Bollman 111

St. Anthony No. 2 -- Nick Wortman 84, Sam Wortman 111, Jared Hutchison 101, Nate Schmidt 105, Cody Pike 114, Gus Koester 109