Monday, Oct. 06, 2008

Althoff claims title at Gerber tourney

Crusaders finish nine strokes ahead of East

EDWARDSVILLE -- The Althoff Crusaders season of first-time accomplishments continued Saturday at the annual Dick Gerber Golf Tournament.

Freshman Nicole Johnson and junior Abbey Woods shot rounds of 92 while Ashley VonAlst and Kelsi Keltner added rounds in the 90s as the Crusaders claimed team honors at Oak Brook Golf Course.

Althoff, which earlier in the week scored its first win over area power Edwardsville and earlier in the season won its first city title, finished with a team score of 477, nine strokes better than Southwestern Conference champion Belleville East.

The win also should provide the Crusaders with a little added momentum heading into the Class AA Regional on Wednesday at Clinton Hill Golf Course in Belleville.

"Hopefully this win will give us a little extra boost," Crusaders coach Tim Gehrs said. "If we play the way we have been we should stand a good chance of advancing. That's the goal, to advance. The regional title would be icing on the cake."

East got a 1-2 finish from Kristi Tschudin and Caitlin Combs to finish second. Tschudin, the current SWC champion, won her second title of the week with an 84. Combs was second with an 87. Combs had a 38 on the back nine after shooting a 49 on the front side.

But the day belonged to Althoff, which had all five players shoot rounds of 101 of better.

"They played from the white tees today, but that was good because in the postseason we're going to see longer courses and this was a good challenge for the girls," Gehrs said. "I just can't tell you how proud I am of these young ladies.

"We've got five girls capable of shooting in the low to mid 40s every time out. They've worked very hard on their games and all of the credit goes to them."

Edwardsville, getting an 89 from junior Caitlin Osborn, placed third in the seven-team event with a 502.

Contact reporter Dean Criddle at 239-2665 or dcriddle@bnd.com.