Aug. 10—BLOOMINGTON — Joey Trupiano and Preston Phillips were the two low individuals for the St. Anthony boys golf team following the Prep Tour High School Boys Showcase on Thursday.
Trupiano carded a four-over-par 76 and Phillips shot a seven-over-par 79 as the Bulldogs finished seventh overall in the ever-challenging event that featured several teams looking for a return trip to Bloomington later in the season.
“This is one of the premier high school tournaments in the state,” St. Anthony head coach Phil Zaccari said. “It’s right out of the gate. It’s not divided into classes; you’re competing against everybody and it’s always cool to be invited to it, which means someone thinks we’re one of the top teams in the state. I think we competed and we held our own. We gave some shots away at the end, but a number of our guys have never played this course and it’s a course you have to play a couple of times.”
The defending Class 1A state champions finished with a score of 316 (28-over-par). Hinsdale (Central) won with a score of 283 (five-under-par).
Lockport (Twp.) finished second at 14-over-par (302). Mahomet-Seymour was third at 15-over-par (303). Edwardsville was fourth at 24-over-par (312). Wheaton (North) was fifth at 25-over-par (313) and Moline tied the Bulldogs at 28-over-par but won by a tiebreaker to finish in sixth.
“Tougher this year, which is good, but it’s all the bigger schools; they’ve all improved,” Zaccari said. “Mahomet-Seymour, they weren’t there last year, so they’ve gotten a lot better and Hinsdale (Central) is just a juggernaut.”
The Red Devils had two players card three-under-par rounds. Devin Swoyer and Dru Devata each shot 69. Kevin Wesolowski shot an even-par 72 and Jack Mulligan shot a one-over-par 73.
Trupiano looked to be well on his way to a round of that caliber after starting with four-straight pars before a birdie on the par-five fifth.
The defending Class 1A individual state medalist then bogeyed his next three holes before a par on the par-five ninth. He then followed that with a two-over-par 38 on the back.
“Joey played consistently today, but he even said, ‘I don’t know how many edges I burned on putts,'” Zaccari said. “He probably could have easily shot 71.”
Phillips, like Trupiano, also could have shot a lower number. He fired a two-over-par 38 on the front nine before a three-over 41 on the back.
“He played well but said, ‘On 18, I hit a beautiful shot, but it hit the sprinkler head and bounced out-of-bounds.’ So, he could have easily shot 77,” Zaccari said. “But those are the breaks of the game.”
As for the other two scores, senior Lane Ludwig fired an 80 and junior Dakota Flaig shot an 81.
“Lane didn’t start well and we got to get him starting well,” Zaccari said. “He had a rough couple of holes to get started with and then once he settled in, he played fine, but we got to get him out of the gates sooner.”
“His whole demeanor has been different and that’s been good,” said Zaccari of Flaig. “He’s learned and he’s been able to say, ‘Next hole. Next hole.'”
Contact EDN Sports Editor Alex Wallner at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.