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Sports
Behrens heads to Normal : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisBehrens heads to Normal
| Oswego senior shoots 77 Monday to advance to state finals
| by Matt Daniels
| 10/15/2009
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It was a day with temperatures and weather conditions more suited for football.
But Oswego's Nate Behrens made sure golf stood out Monday.
The senior shot a 5-over par 77 during the Class 2A Lemont Sectional at Broken Arrow Golf Course in Lockport to finish in a tie for third with Crete-Monee freshman Miles Bailey, good enough to allow Behrens to become the first boys golfer in Oswego High School history to advance to the state finals.
Behrens will tee off at 9:51 a.m. this Friday on the tenth hole at Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State in Normal along with 101 other competitors vying for the Class 2A state championship. He'll play 18 holes on Friday, followed by 18 more holes on Saturday.
"It's exciting," Behrens said. "It's a good experience and everything. My putter was on. I only had 28 putts (on Monday). I was making pretty much everything within five feet. My driver was pretty much down the middle. I just had a lot of layers on so I was trying to swing nice and easy."
Temperatures were in the low-to-mid-40s on the day with clouds present, but Behrens was able to fire a 37 on his first nine holes and his 40 on his final nine put him in good enough position to finish among the top eight individuals.
"I knew after our practice round (last) Saturday out there when he shot a 78, in conditions that were probably worse than they were (Monday), I felt that his chances of getting out were pretty good," Oswego head coach Matt Borrowman said.
Behrens was set to depart for Normal today, Thursday, and get a practice round in at Weibring Golf Club before competition starts Friday.
Yorkville senior Conor McCormick took home medalist honors with a 72 while Nazareth Academy junior Pat Mullaney shot a 75 to finish second.
Rain is expected to hit Normal today, but should be out of the way for this weekend's state finals, with temperatures expected in the mid-40s on both days. Behrens should be used to that type of weather by now since both his rounds in the postseason have either been meet with rain, wind or cold temperatures.
"I just slowed down my swing and tried not to swing too hard," Behrens said of his strategy on Monday. "I clubbed up at times I needed to. Not looking for birdies, just looking for easy two-putts and sometimes the birdies came."
Sophomore Matt Anderson also had a respectable score on Monday, shooting an 87, six shots off the final qualifier. He carded a 39 on his first nine holes, but could not maintain that pace during the rest of his round. Senior Jon Sommerfeld ended his career with an 88 while senior Justin Applin (90) and senior Justin Harris (97) also concluded their prep careers on Monday.
"Two bad holes kept (Anderson) from advancing," Borrowman said. "That was it. Jon, same thing. Jon was about 8-over on two holes and if he had not done that, he would have advanced as well."
Behrens has shown he is capable of top-notch golf this season, especially after he finished in a four-way tie on Sept. 12 at the Batavia Invite amongst a solid field of 2A and 3A competitors.
Now, he gets to square off against the best the state has to offer in 2A this weekend.
"He's seen the good competition," Borrowman said. "It's just 81 or 82 no longer is a good score. Now it's going to have to be in the mid-to-high 70s to be in that top half at the state tournament."
And when he does off tee on Friday, Behrens said he will try to do his best to put aside any jitters he might feel representing Oswego.
"I'm sure some nerves will get to me," he said. "But I'm just going to try and play it like a normal round."
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