St. A Girls Take Second, Boys Ninth, EHS 21st in Golf Invites

The Effingham St. Anthony High School girls golf team finished second at the Kankakee Bishop McNamara Irish Invitational Saturday. There were 11 teams from the Chicago area and the St. Anthony girls brought home a plaque.

Scoring for St. Anthony were Mariah Bushue 44-42 -- 86, Madison Bushue 45-43 -- 88, Abbie Schmidt 45-48 -- 93 and Kyla Burton 49-49 -- 98. Non-scorer was Abby Brown 61-65 -- 126.

The St. Anthony boys squad took ninth place out of 28 teams while Effingham was 21st in the Mattoon Invitational Friday and Saturday at Meadowview Golf Course and Mattoon Country Club.

Quincy won the meet with a 305-319 -- 624 total followed by Normal Community 310-317 -- 627, Barrington 308-324 -- 632, Edwardsville 316-324 -- 640, Lincoln 331-315 -- 646, Mattoon 310-337 -- 647, Mount Carmel 313-342 -- 655, Charleston 317-340 -- 657, St. Anthony 323-335 -- 658, Pekin 324-335 -- 659, Massac County 318-34 -- 660, Alton 327-335 -- 662, Sacred Heart-Griffin 341-321 -- 662, Normal West 319-345 -- 664, Springfield 342-324 -- 666, Mahomet-Seymour 339-329 -- 668, Champaign Centennial 320-351 -- 671, Maroa-Forsyth 331-340 -- 671, Chatham Glenwood 344-330 -- 674, Mount Zion 345-329 -- 674, Effingham 335-342 -- 677, Bloomimgton 338-341 -- 679, Champaign St. Thomas More 352-330 -- 682, Highland 341-343 -- 684, Champaign Central 353-335 -- 688, Normal U-High 339-352 -- 691, Benton 360-333 -- 693 and Rantoul-Paxton-Buckley-Loda 349-345 -- 694.

Normal Community's Brady Quakenbush was the medalist with a 73-74 -- 147.

Scoring for the Bulldogs were Garrett Hixenbaugh 77-84 -- 161, Connor Greene 79-82 -- 161, Jared Hutchison 89-79 -- 168 and Nick Wortman 82-90 -- 172. Non-scorers were Jeff Niebrugge 85-94 -- 179 and Sam Wortman 88-93 -- 181.

"This is a good tournament for us," said Coach Phil Zaccari. "Coach Lockhart and his staff as well as the staffs of Mattoon C.C. and Meadowview G.C. do a wonderful job hosting this event. Being one of the smallest schools here and finishing in the top 10 is a good measuring stick for this team. The courses were set up to challenge the golfers. They were a good test of patience. We grinded pretty well and guys stepped up.

"Jared Hutchison bounced back from a difficult Friday to shoot his season low Saturday. Connor played pretty consistent and scrambled well to help us. Garrett was solid tee to green carding the low for our team (77) for the weekend. Nick showed some resolve, though he did not play well early Saturday, he did not give up going one under on his last five holes. This team is coming together. We definitely need to putt better as we missed a lot of short ones that could have moved us up."

St. Anthony junior varsity boys competed in the Catholic Schools Invitational at Lockhaven Country Club in Alton Saturday and finished seventh.

Belleville Althoff won with 315 followed by Alton Marquette 345, Waterloo Gibault 363, Bloomington Central Catholic 365, Breese Mater Dei 367, Jacksonville Routt 376 and St. Anthony JV 380.

Belleville Althoff's Michael Johnson was medalist with a 77 along with teammate Conor Eghigian.

Scoring for the Bulldogs were Nate Schmidt 46-43 -- 89, Mitchell Sager 47-45 -- 92, Gus Koester 49-45 -- 94 and Nik Dust 55-50 -- 105. Non-scorers were Jacob Schmidt 58-58 -- 116 and Trey Koester 67-64 -- 131.