Mayer sharp; H-F rolls by Hinsdale C.

Homewood-Flossmoor's depth proved enough to overcome HinsdaleCentral's top-ranked boys tennis team in Saturday's Herseyinvitational in Arlington Heights.

H-F won the seven-team round-robin by scoring 37 points toHinsdale Central's 33 1/2 and Barrington's 30.

The Vikings were led by Chris Mayer, who won the first singleseven though he lost to Hinsdale Central's Darren Olson 6-4. ButMayer scored 41 points against six opponents while Olson had 38.

Although Mayer was H-F's only winner, the Vikings posted fourseconds - Jim Pavlik in No. 2 singles, Sridhar Veerapanieni in No. 3singles, Tony Gutierrez-Jason Akrmi in No. 2 doubles and SteveRo-Mark Fejardo in No. 4 doubles.

"This is a tremendous confidence booster for us," H-F coachJerry Sanders said. "To come out here and play against thiscompetition, with the rain delay, the wind and all the elements, andto come out on top . . . we're very satisfied. Our singles playersdid a real nice job. But it shows our doubles have a lot of work todo."

"I felt confident today," Mayer said. "I was able to beat alot of quality kids. I was disappointed I didn't beat Olson. ButI was pleased with the way I did against (Hersey's) Mark Nasser and(Deerfield's) Ryan Johnstone."

Other winners included Hinsdale Central's Garrett Olson in No. 2singles and Fremd's Adam Berkson and Ryan Yagoda in No. 1 doubles.

"This is no more than a workout," Hinsdale Central coach JayKramer said. "We changed our whole lineup but we were able to give alot of people some good competition. H-F is a good team. We knewthat coming in. And their performance just proved it. As for thefinal results, I don't think they mean a hill of beans."

Girls' soccer: Second-ranked St. Charles (3-0-1) won itsfour-team invitational by beating No. 3 Schaumburg 2-1 on StaceyPeterson's goal with 7:05 to play. She was assisted by MarciMiller.

The Saints, who earlier beat Naperville Central 3-0 and HinsdaleSouth 4-0, scored in the first period as Chris Marty assisted onMiller's goal. A few minutes later, St. Charles goalie Merit Elzeystopped a penalty kick by Cindy Reyes. But Schaumburg (4-1) tied onShay Feilen's goal in the second period.

"I was really happy with our win," St. Charles coach Tim Daileysaid. "I would have been happy with a tie against Schaumburg.They are an excellent team. Our offense started to come around,though, and our defense was super."

St. Charles' defense, led by Amy Van Broeck, Missy Riffer andsweeper Michelle Marchese, held Schaumburg without a shot on goal inthe second half.

At the Rockford Boylan round-robin, top-ranked Waubonsie Valleywon with a 2-1 record by virtue of scoring five goals in three games.

Waubonsie lost 1-0 to Granite City but later beat Springfield1-0. Defending state champion Libertyville lost to Springfield andPalatine by 2-1 margins.

West Chicago (1-0-1) beat Rockford East 1-0 on Jori Peterson'sgoal with five minutes to play and goalie Cheri Oskerka's secondshutout. Sophomore Kate Downes had three goals, including thegame-winner on a free kick with four minutes remaining, to liftGlenbard East (1-1-1) past Elk Grove 3-2.

Oak Park (4-1-1) beat Lyons 1-0 on Alice Lurain's goal midway inthe third period and goalie Mandy Toperoff's third shutout.Stevenson (2-1) beat Jacobs 1-0 on Jenna Letofsky's goal midway inthe last period.

Boys' gymnastics: No. 3 Hinsdale Central won its tournament byscoring 144.8 points, edging Hinsdale South (141.3). HinsdaleCentral's Tony Zorc averaged 8.83 (out of 10) to win the all-around.He won vaulting (9.3), pommel horse (8.5), parallel bars (8.8) andstill rings (9.05). Downers Grove North's John Nania and Oak Park'sJason Goodman tied in floor exercise (8.8).

Badminton: Palatine doesn't worry too much about early seasonlosses. The Pirates just might see you again.

At the Prospect Invite, top-ranked doubles players Anne Mekeland Jeanne Smith and first singles Rene Finco avenged earlier lossesto lead Palatine, which scored 42 points. Prospect had 33, Hersey29, Downers Grove South 23.

At first singles, Finco beat Prospect's Margaret Vida 11-1,5-11, 11-3. Vida had won their first meeting in Palatine'sseason-opening invite. In another rematch, Mekel-Smith avenged anearlier loss to Hersey's Karen Wiederholt and Cathy Fong 15-10, 15-3.

"We had to get mentally prepared," Mekel said. "We had a toplay for the moment."

Mekel and Wiederholt are no strangers. Last year, they facedeach other in the state final with different partners. Palatinewent on to win the doubles championship and the team title.

"When we played in the dual this week it felt like state," Mekelsaid. "I let the pressure get to me."

"In our last match we got upset at each other," Smith said."Today we just played loose and when we made a mistake we just forgotabout it. Our attitude was different and we didn't have as manyunforced errors. We moved them around better today."

Wiederholt is looking forward to a rematch.

"We still need more experience together," she said. "Cathyand I are still trying to iron out a few wrinkles. But we've gottime to work on it."

Finco (18-4) said she still felt the need to take control ofthe match after winning the first game 11-1.

"Margaret was hitting everything out," Finco said. "The wayshe was playing was like a fluke. It was very unlike her to playlike that.

"She played more aggressive in the second game and made me makemy shots."

Finco used some sound advice from coach Lynn Maund to rally forthe victory. "I talked to Lynn and she told me what shots I shouldmake and which ones to avoid. I tried to keep her deep and movingin the third match."

"I told our kids to keep the momentum going today," Maund said."The win was a team effort."

Palatine also had champions in Wendy Rogowski and KathrynMcDermott at second doubles, Adrianne Traxinger and Jen Delpage atthird doubles and Afshan Alavi and Amber Klassy at fourth doubles.

Contributing: Phil Pilger, Allen Plyler.