St. Anthony, Effingham Claim Top Finishes At Invite

CHAMPAIGN -- St. Anthony and Effingham high schools claimed second and third place respectively in the John Macek Boys Golf Invitational, played on the Orange Course at the University of Illinois Monday.

Normal West won the event with a 303 total followed by St. Anthony 304, Effingham 307, Champaign Centennial A 313, Normal Community 328, Bloomington 333, Mattoon 336, Urbana 339, Bismarck-Henning 341, Champaign Central 353, Champaign Centennial B 354, Taylorville 355, Champaign St. Thomas More 359, Judah Christian 359, Danville 363 and Monticello 370.

Effingham's Jackson Wendling tied with Judah Christian's Nick Berger for medalist honors with a 72.

"We were shooting to get at least four scores in the 70's today and we achieved that goal," said St. Anthony Coach Phil Zaccari. "We also know that we left a whole lot of strokes out on the greens today. I watched four of our players just lip out birdie putts, if those fall, then who knows. Our depth again came through; our four counting scores were all within three strokes of each other.

"We know we could have done better but we did shoot our low score for the year. That is definitely a good thing. Joe Powell and Dalton Anderson just picked up from where they dropped off Saturday shooting very solid rounds. Jack did not strike the ball well today, but scored great and sophomore Connor Greene played a very good round.

"Congratulations to Effingham and Coach Jeff Schafer for bringing home the third place plaque. Once again Effingham County received two of the three plaques and placed four players in the top 10. We get some time off now to catch our breath and work on some things, especially the short game before we are back in action this Saturday at the Irish Invite in Kankakee."

"Jackson just played a great round of golf today, making only one birdie and one bogey while the rest were all pars,"said EHS Coach Jeff Schafer. "This is what we expect from Jackson and Anthony Lechman. They are just a great one-two punch to have on your team. Anthony played a very smart, methodical round of golf and Jackson was just great.

"Anthony Barrett and Jake Linders were very solid again for us. Our younger players are getting experience and showing signs of really improving. This is the best team score we have had in the last 15 years and I believe it could be a school record. The kids just did a great job today. Congratulations to St. Anthony who had another very good round as well. It was a great day for all of Effingham."

Individual Results

St. Anthony -- Joe Powell 38-36 -- 74, Dalton Anderson 35-41 -- 76, Jack Niebrugge 37-40 -- 77, Connor Greene 39-38 -- 77, Garrett Hixenbaugh 40-41 -- 81, Cole Buehnerkemper 41-43 -- 84

Effingham -- Jackson Wendling 72, Anthony Lechman 76, Jake Linders 79, Anthony Barrett 80, Sean Sandifer 91, Reed Schafer 97