Conquering Koulos

Waubonsie Valley's Thomas O'Bryan, center, tees off on the 10th hole next to Naperville Central's Matt Smith, left, and Batavia's Tim Schofield, right, during the West Aurora Boys Golf Regional at Orchard Valley Golf Course in Aurora Tuesday morning.

(Heather Eidson/Staff Photographer)

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Redistricting can give and it can take away. Welcome to Waubonsie Valley, Alex Koulos.

"I'm one of the kids who went to Neuqua Valley who came here (with the opening of Metea Valley)," said the sophomore golfer who holds down the No. 4 spot in the Warriors lineup. "I don't know if I would have played varsity there, they've got so many good players."

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Batavia's Tim Schofield chips out of the bunker on the 9th hole during the West Aurora Boys Golf Regional at Orchard Valley Golf Course in Aurora Tuesday morning.

(Heather Eidson/Staff Photographer)

On this day he could have.

Koulos beat some nasty elements (cold, wind and rain) and the rest of the field by shooting even-par 72 at Orchard Valley Golf Course to claim medalist honors in the Class 3A West Aurora Regional.

The top three teams -- Wheaton Warrenville South (307), Neuqua Valley (309) and Waubonsie Valley (313) -- and the top eight individuals not on those teams advance to Monday's St. Charles East Sectional at St. Andrews.

The Warriors, who entered as the sixth seed, surprised the field as they slipped past second seed Naperville North (fourth, 316) and fourth seed Benet (sixth, 330) to take the last qualifying spot.

"Alex, obviously, was huge," Waubonsie coach David Owles said, "especially his (2-under) 34 on the back nine. I don't think anybody else did better than that on the back. While the scores were going up, he went low.

"It makes a huge difference to have somebody go that low. We counted an 83 (in their top four). You usually don't expect to make it out doing that."

Koulos credited his strong wedge play with helping him conquer the nasty winds that were making a two- to three-club difference for players.

"On one par 3 that was 168 yards I hit a 4-iron (into the wind); that's like a 195-yard shot," he said. "I had five birdies today and on all but one I was within 10 feet. I made a 40-foot bomb for birdie on No. 17."

The Warriors also counted scores from Thomas O'Bryan (78), Josh Stefanski (80) and Brian Salerno (83).

"Everybody had their bad holes," Owles said. "Josh (Stefanski) started birdie, birdie, triple (bogey) but he kept it together. Thomas had a double (bogey) when he hit it out of bounds on a par 5.

"They stuck with it in crappy weather. I was very proud of them. I had told them yesterday to be prepared for a monsoon, to bring extra gloves, towels and rain gear. I think the wind was worse than the rain. It was brutal in spots out there."

Batavia shot 335 to finish seventh and West Aurora took eighth with a 343 and both had one individual advance. Nick Pavlik (78) made it for the Blackhawks and Nick Michael (79) for the Bulldogs.

Metea Valley, led by an 84 from sophomore Adam Kreiner, shot a 350 to take ninth. East Aurora was 10th at 446.

"We came out of the turn pretty good with three 39s," Batavia coach Tim Debruycker said. "I know Tim (Schofield) and Nathan (Podraza) were disappointed they couldn't have done better on the back nine."

They finished at 84 and 83, respectively.

"I feel worse for Tim because he's a senior. Nathan, as a freshman, at least has three more tries," Debruycker continued. "The 335 ties our worst 18-hole score of the season. We just came off a 318 at conference. (The third-place) 313 would have been tough to beat, but it would have been nice to get three kids out."

West's Grant Lavery, who shot 41-42, also missed advancing by just one stroke.