Practice makes perfect for Geneva girls' golf

After a lackluster week, Geneva's girls golf team took to the links to work on its game over the weekend.

The practice paid off as the Vikings got career-low rounds from seniors Kendall McCleary (39) and Lindsey Fansler (39) to take first place Monday at the Elgin Country Club Tournament hosted by South Elgin.

The Vikings (161), who lost by a stroke to St. Charles North last season, took a 14-stroke victory over Hampshire (175). The Bartlett/South Elgin/Streamwood co-op (178) continued its success with a third-place finish, while the North Stars (179) were fourth. St. Edward (191) was fifth.

Hampshire sophomore Taylor Ellett also shot a season-low round of 36 to claim first-place individual honors at the par-35 course. Although they tied with a 39, McCleary finished second with a built-in tiebreaker and Fansler was third. Geneva's Kim Connor (41) was fifth, while Hampshire freshman Connie Ellett (40) took fourth.

"The was a little it of rebound," Geneva coach Eric Hatczel said. "They came to play. This is Lindsay's first time hitting that low. (Fansler and McCleary) had a good day."

The duo had shot in the mid to uppers 40s last week, before working on the drives and putting over the weekend. The short-game work paid off big.

"I didn't use my driver the whole round," Fanser said. "I was putting pretty well."

Fanser shot a round of 47 last season, while this was McCleary's first trip to Elgin Country Club. McCalery opted to go hard with the driver. Geneva also counted a 42 from Kelsey Kale.

"I was hitting my driver hard and steady," McCleary said. "It's fun when everyone is doing well. Everyone was shooting in the low 40s."

Taylor Ellett also got a huge boost from her driver. The sophomore rebounded from last year's 6th-place finish to take top honors.

"We were looking to come in here and shoot a lot better," she said. "Our team did really well."

Aside from the Ellett sisters, Hampshire got solid rounds from Tina Tuminaro (50) and Grace Jakubowski (51).

"This is a great field to compete against," Hampshire coach Sue Ellett said. "We wanted to see how we stack up. We had a great round top to bottom. Taylor was confident."

Carly Schneider (42), Andrea Mastro, Kaitlyn Boehne (44) and Samantha Coyne (48) all shot in the 40s for the Bartlett/South Elgin/Streamwood co-op. Defending champ St. Charles North got 45s from Kim Barr and Miranda Fencl and a 47 from Marissa Fencl.

Morgan Harvey (48) led Jacobs (201, 7th place). St. Edward got a 44 from Erin Schneider and a 46 from Danielle Coffman after her return from a hand injury.

Taylor Colby (43) was the leader for Burling Central (199, sixth place). Julia Marquez (56) paced Dundee-Crown (233, eighth place) and Kristen Chramowicz (47) led the Larkin/Elgin co-op, which only had three players and did not record a team score.