By Billy Cruz
Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s golf team recently claimed first place in their own Illinois Valley Invitational and finished 8th in a meet at Danville.
On Sept. 21 and 22, the hosts won at home behind a strong performance from their one-two punch of Tim Puetz and Timothy Eckberg. Puetz took medalist honors and Eckberg finished in a strong 2nd to lead IVCC.
Head coach Jim Moskalwicz was very pleased with his team’s performance in their own invite.
“It is always nice to win your own tournament,” said Moskalwicz. “I was very happy with the entire team.”
After winning their own invite, the golf team struggled in Danville the following weekend, finishing in 8th place out of 18 participating teams. Moskalwicz was frustrated with his team’s poor showing in the team’s final meet of the regular season.
“This was probably our worst performance as a team all year,” said the coach. “I was a little disappointed with the way we performed with this being our final meet before regionals.”
With his team preparing for the Region IV Championship Tournament in Byron, Moskalwicz is confident that his team can rebound from their shaky performance at Danville and play well in the regional.
“I think we are the team to beat at regionals,” said Moskalwicz. “However coming off a poor performance I am a little concerned with the team’s performance heading into the regional, where we will be competing against 13 other teams.”
Craig McConville, Cory Riordan, and Tony Andreoni will join Puetz and Eckberg in Byron for the Region tournament, with hopes of advancing as a team to nationals, which will be played at Palm Valley Golf Club on May 20-May 25, 2002 in Phoenix, Ariz.