Guyton shows she belongs after effort at state

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There Hayley Guyton was, duking it out with defending state champion Kris Yoo of Conant for the state title, the pressure so thick “by the end your hair was just falling out,” Guyton said.

Yoo had every reason to know she belonged. Guyton was stunned, entering the Class AA state tournament at Hickory Ridge in Carbondale merely hoping for a top-10 finish.

“I don’t know what happened to me but I just became this super golfer,” Guyton said. “I was having a lot of fun, I was making putts and I was just thinking, ‘Where is this coming from?’ It was fun. I never played like that before.”

Guyton achieved one of the most coveted milestones in sports: playing at the absolute top of her game when the stakes were highest. She lost a playoff with Yoo, but the Kaneland junior took second in the state, garnering Chronicle Girls Golfer of the Year honors.

If Guyton thought it through on that mid-October day, she would have realized exactly where “this” was coming from. Despite a solid regular season for the Kaneland boys team – the school does not have a girls team – her putting mishaps brought her “near tears,” Guyton said, prompting marathon short-game sessions leading into the postseason.

Guyton trekked to Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, where her father, John, is head pro, to take advantage of the course’s fast greens. There, she routinely logged a couple hours a pop putting and chipping, seeking to find a rhythm that she knew could save her a few, precious strokes each round.

“The first couple of times it was really tough to stay out there,” Guyton said. “My back would hurt. I just didn’t have the attention span I needed, but then it started to really click. My dad started to give me compliments on it, and I was starting to think, ‘Hey, this is going to work.’ ”

It worked all postseason, from earning medalist honors at regionals to shooting a 75 at sectionals to a glorious, 2-under-par round of 70 on the final day of the state tournament.

Guyton and Yoo jockeyed for the lead all day, with Yoo eventually taking the playoff hole on a Guyton bogey.

Kaneland coach Mark Meyer said assistant Ken Neahring summed up the tension best.

“He kind of compared it to watching a player at the free-throw line for a game-winning free throw for 4 1⁄2 hours,” Meyer said. “It was that intense the entire time, but in a good, fun way.”

A repeat state qualifier, Guyton is serious enough about the sport that she travels about an hour and a half to train with Frankfort-based swing coach John Platt. Platt is hopeful the state success proves to Guyton – who shot a two-day total of 145 at the state meet – that she belongs among the sport’s elite.

“She’s got the game where she can shoot 65, 66,” Platt said. “Once she gets it 1-, 2-, 3-under par she can’t be afraid to get it 4-, 5-, 6-under par, and I think she has the mental attitude to be able to do that.”

Guyton said Illinois is among the college programs that have shown interest in her in the aftermath of her slick play in Carbondale. A letter from Illinois is nice, but it’s hard to beat that second-place state medal hanging in her room as most treasured recent acquisition.

“I like to look at it,” Guyton acknowledged. “It just reminds me of it but it’s still kind of hard to believe. It’s hard to believe I got second in state.”

CHRONICLE ALL-AREA GIRLS GOLFTEAM
FIRST TEAM

Marin Beagley
St. Charles North, Sr.
North’s No. 1 golfer wrapped up an impressive career with another season of steady play. Beagley shot a team-best 82 to help North advance out of regionals, then finished third individually at the Rockford Guilford Sectional, shooting a 77. North’s lone state qualifier, Beagley finished tied for 39th at the Class AA state meet.

Tara Cullerton
Batavia, So.
Cullerton led the way in a superb season for the conference and regional champion Bulldogs. Cullerton shot an 82 at the St. Ignatius Sectional, fifth best among advancing individuals. At the Class AA state meet, Cullerton’s two-day total of 171 put her among the state’s top 50 golfers.

Ariana Furrie
St. Charles North, Fr.
Furrie was one of the most consistent golfers in the area, teaming with Marin Beagley to give the North Stars an excellent 1-2 punch atop the lineup. The super frosh shot an 83, one stroke behind Beagley, at the Class AA Prairie Ridge Regional, leading North to a second-place finish and team advancement to sectionals.

Hayley Guyton
Kaneland, Jr.
Furrie was one of the most consistent golfers in the area, teaming with Marin Beagley to give the North Stars an excellent 1-2 punch atop the lineup. The super frosh shot an 83, one stroke behind Beagley, at the Class AA Prairie Ridge Regional, leading North to a second-place finish and team advancement to sectionals.

Jenny Niemiec
St. Charles East, Sr.
Niemiec was medalist at the Class AA Prairie Ridge Regional, where she fired a 77. Her round of 81 at the Guilford Sectional tied for tops on an East team that won the sectional championship. Niemiec ended up 27th in the state after a two-day total of 162 at Hickory Ridge in Carbondale, including a 78 in the second round.

Kayla Stueland
St. Francis, Jr.
Stueland shot a 74 on the final day of the Class AA state meet, surging into a four-way tie for 15th in the state. At regionals, Stueland’s round of 80 paced the Spartans to a third-place finish and sectionals advancement as a team. She followed that with another 80 at the St. Ignatius Sectional to advance to state individually.

SECOND TEAM
Shannon Delaney, Geneva, Sr.
Natalie Haines, Rosary, Sr.
Kayla Lehman, Batavia, So.
Nicole Rae, St. Charles East, Jr.
Megan Ramp, Batavia, Sr.
Kate VenHorst, St. Charles East, Jr.

HONORABLE MENTION
KK Barr, St. Charles North, Jr.
Kathryn Belanger, St. Charles East, Sr.
Rebecca Norris, St. Charles East, Sr.
Mel Schlenker, Geneva, Sr.
Alejandre Serrate, Batavia, Jr.
Megan Van Thournout, St. Francis, So.

COACH OF THE YEAR
Rod Osborne
St. Charles East
Osborne guided the Saints to the IHSA Class AA state tournament. East was the lone area program to qualify for the state tournament as a team. East also won Upstate Eight Conference, regional and sectional championships before finishing eighth at the state tournament in Carbondale.

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