Freshman duo of Abigail Gizewicz and Kayla Beu helps St. Charles North to team title at Jacobs regional

WEST DUNDEE — On a St. Charles North team brimming with seniors, it was two freshmen who took charge.

Abigail Gizewicz put up an 8-over 79 for a second-place finish and Kayla Beu finished third with an 80 to help lead the North Stars to the Class 2A Jacobs Regional title at Randall Oaks Golf Club.

“It was really exciting,” Beu said on her third-place finish. “There’s a lot of things to grow from for the future, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Trailing close behind the freshmen were seniors Isabella Krosse, who shot an 82 for fifth, and Rylee Huddleston, who finished sixth with an 83, to round out the scoring and put them at a 324.

The victory was their first at the regional level since 2018, which was also the season that the North Stars went on to win the state championship. But even with a 21-stroke margin of victory, North coach Steven Dodd knows that it could have been even better.

“All four of our scorers have shot quite a few more shots worse than they had hoped to on the course,” Dodd said. “So in terms of confidence there, we need to do a little bit more work to practice and refine some of what we got wrong today. But in terms of putting a team score together with these conditions on this track, it fills me with a lot of confidence.”

One of those players who felt that way was Gizewicz. Despite only finishing one stroke behind medalist honors, she knew that she didn’t play her best with the windy conditions, she was still happy to be a big contributor in her first regional.

“It’s a good learning experience and we grow a lot from that pressure,” Gizewicz said. “It can be a good thing sometimes.”

Joining the North Stars as team qualifiers were second-place St. Charles East (345) and third-place Jacobs (373).

For the Saints, they earned their first team trip to sectionals since 2021 with the finish. Leading the way was senior Manuela Ramirez, who shot an 81 to secure fourth place in her first tournament since the second week of the season.

“She’s one of those players where all the other coaches and players ask where she was at because she’s usually at the top and one of the better players in the area,” St. Charles East coach Jarod Gutesha said. “But to have her back is super helpful, and I’m glad she was able to make a return for the postseason.”

Behind Rivera was a quartet of Saints taking up eighth through 12th place. Juniors Charlotte Tassone and Olivia Vosburgh finished in the top 10 after shooting an 87 (eighth) and 88 (tied for ninth), senior Ivana Virden shot an 89 for 11th to round out the scoring and senior Emma Jones took 12th with a 90.

Meanwhile, the Eagles were led by sophomore Natalie Zimmerman, who was the team’s only sectional qualifier a season ago. She shot an 84 to take seventh place to help secure the team’s trip to sectionals by 10 strokes.

“She was in the zone, and you could tell just by her first tee shot when we started that she was locked in,” Jacobs coach Paul Anderson said. “She knew she had to be locked in in order for not only herself to advance, but for our team to make it as well. She hasn’t had a really good 18-hole round yet this year and she knew she had to play better, and she did.”

Junior Nicole Heims and freshman Bianca Ramirez each put up a 96 to tie for 21st and junior Emma Skarosi rounded out the Eagles’ scoring with a 97 to tie for 24th.

Individually, it was Dundee-Crown senior Sophie Morawski who took home medalist honors. After shooting an 8-over on the front nine, Morawski sunk three birdies and only two bogies in the back half to finish 7-over 78.

“I did really bad at the beginning on my first nine, so I thought I was out of it, and then I got a couple birdies,” Morawski said. “I really wanted to make it to sectionals.”

Joining Morawski as individual qualifiers were Kaneland senior Kailey Kunstman (88, tied for ninth) and freshman Emma Kunstman (95, 20th), Batavia sophomore Avery Sheehan (92, t-13th), Geneva juniors Paige Flanigan (92, t-13th) and Joanna Brylka (93, t-16th), South Elgin sophomore Abigail Wolf (92, t-13th) and junior Autumn Burnett (93, t-16th) and Hampshire junior Madeline Franz (93, t-16th) and senior Kaylee Seo (96, t-21st).