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Intercity boys golf preview: U High aims for 5th title
“Drive for Five” might be a catchy slogan. Just don’t expect University High School golf coach Ryan Snell to put it on shirts or even mention it to the Pioneers. The U High juggernaut has three players back who helped last year’s squad capture its fourth straight state title. The Pioneers won the Class AA crown by four strokes over St. Viator at The Den at Fox Creek in Bloomington. Snell, in his first season as coach replacing the retired Tom Romance, might feel like he’s taking over the New York Yankees. “As a team, I don’t have to tell them there’s that target. But they want to play better because they have something to prove,” said Snell, who had been Romance’s assistant the last four years. “They appreciate people gunning for them because that makes them a better player.” Seniors Eric Meier and Sean Dozier and junior Kyle English make U High the preseason favorite to capture the Class 2A state crown in the newly structured Illinois High School Association three-class system. English, who has participated in the last two state tourneys, is coming off an eventful summer. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur as well as the Illinois State Amateur. English, who tied for 11th in last year’s state tourney, also finished second in the Bloomington-Normal Match Play Tournament. Dozier also played in the State Amateur, while Meier won the Bloomington-Normal Two-Man Best Position with his older brother, Ryan. As if the Pioneers needed any other advantage, the Class 2A state tourney will be played on U High’s home turf, the ISU Golf Course. “All I ask is that I would really like to get to state. Everyone looks at me like I’m crazy, but I think that is everyone’s goal at the beginning of the year,” said Snell. “It’s not a guarantee by any means. If you start thinking about that, it could be disastrous.” Getting to state will be more difficult than ever. With the three-class system, only two teams in each sectional instead of three will advance to Prairie Vista (Class 1A), ISU (Class 2A) or The Den (Class 3A). Central Catholic qualified for its first Class A State tourney in 14 years in 2006 and returns four of those players. However, the Saints’ path will be more difficult as they have moved up to Class 2A. “They’re excited about it. They’re confident, even though we’ve moved up to 2A, and so am I,” said Central Catholic coach Tom Prescher. The good news for Bloomington, Normal Community and Normal West is that U High is in another class. The bad news? Those three, along with Pekin and Danville, are the only Class 3A teams in Central Illinois. “I think we have the golfers that we can advance, but it will be very tough,” said West coach Tim Franz, starting his second tenure with the Wildcats. “Obviously we don’t have U High to get through, but now we have Quincy, Pekin and Edwardsville.” Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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sasha brinkova wrote on Dec 10, 2007 2:09 PM:
Iris wrote on Nov 23, 2007 7:55 AM:
uh wrote on Aug 24, 2007 7:53 PM:
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