Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Crusaders edge Waterloo for golf regional crown

Sophomore and a freshman lead the way for Crusaders

CARBONDALE -- One day after the Althoff girls won a Class AA regional golf championship, the Crusaders boys duplicated the feat Thursday at Hickory Ridge Golf Course.

Sophomore James Leopold shot a 74 while freshman Sam Lidisky added a 78 as Althoff nipped Waterloo by a stroke to win the Class 2A Carbondale Regional .

The Crusaders, who also got rounds of 84 from Austin VonAlst and Austin Schmidt, finished with a total of 320. Waterloo was second and Carbondale placed third at 335.

"I talk to the kids all the time about the fact that every shot counts and today we took 320 strokes to finish and we won by one stroke," Crusaders coach Dan Polites said. "I'm very proud of these young men, but in order to advance further, we've got to play even better on Saturday."

Althoff, Waterloo and Carbondale advance to the Salem Class 2A Sectional at Salem Country Club, beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Also advancing as individuals were Mascoutah's Alec White, who shot 82 Matt McKenzie, who fired an 83.

Medalist honors went to Waterloo's Wils Hawn, who tied Leopold with a 74, then won a playoff to secure medalist honors.

The second place Bulldogs also got rounds of 78 from Chris Pickett, 84 from Jake Brumfield and an 85 from Alex Robertson.

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