Aurora Central Catholic Golf Team

BEGGS AND SALAZAR TEAMMATES ONCE AGAIN AT AURORA UNIVERSITY

BLOOMINGTON, Illinois — In the Fall of 2021, Michelle Beggs (ACC '22) and Natalia Salazar (ACC '25) were teammates at Aurora Central Catholic. Beggs was a senior. Salazar was a freshman.

Both Lady Chargers had qualified for Sectionals that season. Beggs then went on to qualify for the IHSA State Finals in addition to already securing a few ACC scoring records. Salazar, at that time, set several freshman scoring records; her first trip downstate would come her junior season.

And now at Aurora University, the two former ACC standouts are reunited. Beggs the senior. Salazar again as the young freshman. Beggs as an established scorer with accolades (i.e. All-Conference). Salazar as the eager upstart.

This weekend at Ironwood Country Club the Aurora University Spartan Women's golf team competed in an event hosted by Illinois Wesleyan. Notable teams: North Central College, Milliken University, Washington University (St. Louis), Augustana College, St. Mary's College (Indiana).

Over two days, Beggs carded 161 (78+84). Salazar carded 171 (84+87).

The Lady Spartans finished in 6th place (of 16 teams).

SCHWARTZ SURGES IN ROUND #2 TO FINISH TOP-30 IN STATE FINALS

DECATUR, Illinois — Unlike Regional and Sectional postseason tournaments that are 18-hole events, the IHSA State Final is comprised of 36 holes over two days.

On Saturday morning, Aurora Central Catholic junior Nora Schwartz began Round #2 in 50th place overall at Red Tail Run Golf Course. Not what the Marengo Regional Champion had envisioned for herself—just a few strokes below the cut score after Round #1 on Friday. A close call.

But by Saturday afternoon, she had scaled the leaderboard in the IHSA State Finals...into the top 30.

Schwartz started Friday's round on hole #10. She began very well, carding three pars and a bogey on her first four holes. What followed, though, was a day marked by a few flubbed shots, some unfortunate bounces, a couple of bunker woes, and even by a fanciful ball that crashed into the treetops on hole #16.

(Of hole #16, she humorously remarked, "I had 110 yards to the pin. I really thought I could send [my golf ball] over those trees.")

While she carded six pars on Friday, she also had a triple-bogey and a collection of uncharacteristic double-bogeys.

Round #1 score: 88.

Even though her opening day proved an uphill trek, it was a trek that Schwartz weathered rather well. She understands adversity. She understands that golf is all about accepting missed shots. About never quitting.

Knowing that good things are bound to happen to those who just keep swinging.

. . . . .

She arrived quietly at Red Tail Run Saturday morning for Round #2—surrounded by so many of Illinois's best high school golfers. Many who had outscored her on Friday.

So Nora Schwartz got down to the business of proving why she was in Decatur in the first place.

She again started on hole #10. Again she began with a promising start—even-par after the first three holes. Then it was as if she'd decided "to leave it all on the golf course." She played to her strengths.

Great tee shots with her driver. Wedges dropped around so many flagsticks like darts. And above all—composure. While she did still sail of couple of golf balls into fescue areas for penalties, Schwartz played like a focused, humble battler.

Saturday's scorecard had nine pars and a birdie. It was an impressive birdie that she rolled in on hole #17. Much later, her final hole ( #9) included a 250-yard drive and a two-putt for another par.

Round #2 score: 81.
Total score: 169.

Schwartz finished in 29th place (of over 100 golfers). It is the second-best State Finals performance by a Lady Charger in program history.

A fitting end to a 2025 golf season in which Schwartz had already set some new ACC scoring records, earned GCAC All-Conference, became the first Lady Charger to win a regular season tournament, and became the first female Regional golf champion in ACC history.

And her best golf has yet to happen.
Aurora Central Catholic High School

Aurora Central Catholic junior Nora Schwartz has arrived at the 2025 IHSA State Finals. Her trek around Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur, Illinois begins shortly. Story and highlights to follow later this weekend...

AURORA UNIVERSITY'S MICHELLE BEGGS (ACC '22) ALL-NACC SELECTION

Aurora University senior Michelle Beggs (ACC '22) has been selected as All-Conference golfer in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC).

Beggs, a former ACC #1 golfer, was the second-ever Lady Charger to qualify for the IHSA State Finals in Decatur, IL. She still holds several ACC school records including best regular season tournament score (76) and best two-day State Finals score (166).

NORA SCHWARTZ PLACES 4th IN SECTIONAL

ROCKFORD, Illinois — Aurora Central Catholic junior Nora Schwartz competed at Forest Hills Country Club on Monday. And the recently-crowned Marengo Regional Champion "left everything out on the course"; her performance earned her a trip to the IHSA State Finals in Decatur, Illinois.

Nora Schwartz is going downstate.

It was a six-hour round on a packed, slow-moving golf course. Mentally taxing. But Schwartz persevered. Remained in the moment.

It was a day in which she had two double-bogeys on her card. Uncharacteristic scores. But she countered with a birdie on hole #8—a tough par-3 hole over a pond.

It was a day with a rare triple-bogey...on hole #12. The afternoon's biggest hurdle. But she cleared that hurdle—forged ahead for a combined one-over-par from holes #13- #17.

In essence, Monday's Sectional Round was the most challenging day of golf in which Schwartz has ever competed as a Lady Charger. But her resolve to bring back to ACC a 1st-place medal never wavered. She battled as hard as she could.

In the end, she walked wearily off of hole #18 with an 86. The result—a 4th-place inidividual medal.

She said goodbye to Forest Hills, a country club whose name was fitting—enough trees to qualify as a mini-forest; enough hills that so many shots were blind ones. Especially blind shots into greens.

What's more, Monday at Forest Hills featured the highest overall individual and team scores of any IHSA Sectional for girls in the state of Illinois, whether 1A or 2A. A forest with hills indeed.

WHAT'S NEXT: Schwartz will now compete at Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur on Friday and Saturday. She will look to improve upon last season's 45th-place finish. Her best golf has yet to happen.

ACC CHARGERS PLACE 8th IN JOLIET CATHOLIC REGIONAL

JOLIET, Illinois — Having been placed in one of Illinois Class 2A’s tougher golf Regionals, the Aurora Central Catholic Chargers teed off Wednesday morning at Inwood Golf Course knowing that the climb throughout the morning and early afternoon would be an uphill one.

ACC is a team that features four sophomores who, while they lack experience in competitive, high-pressure events, have a promising future ahead. Look for the team to grow over the next two years—both in numbers and in ability.

Much of that promising ability was on display at Inwood. The Chargers were led by sophomore Luke Torrance who fired a team-best 88. His round featured five pars and a birdie. Supporting Torrance were sophomores Cole Wolf (90) and Nick Hipp (94). Wolf's front nine was 41 and included four pars and a birdie. Junior Braden Dillon (96) rounded out the Chargers’ team card.

It was Lemont High School who convincingly took the Regional crown—they carded an impressive 299 team total. Lemont was led by senior Joey Scott who fired 66. Providence Catholic (307) and Marmion Academy (317) also advanced to Sectionals.

HISTORY IN MARENGO—SCHWARTZ IS REGIONAL CHAMPION

MARENGO, Illinois — For the first time in history, Aurora Central Catholic has a Lady Charger that is an IHSA Regional Champion.**

She had her notes scribbled on scorecards and upon a notepad. Every single hole plotted out. Every tee shot pre-measured and pre-envisioned. Most approach shot yardages were charted. She had also practiced those shots Sunday before the tournament date. Golf, after all—while it is a very mental challenge—is a game of measurements and of comfort regarding a piece of creative landscape.

And Marengo Ridge Golf Club is definitely "creative." Trees huddle around the fairways. Huge bunkers protect the greens. Most of the par-4 greens cannot be seen from the tee boxes—that's a frightful thought.

Junior Nora Schwartz began the morning on hole #10. Her 9th hole of the day ( #18) introduced the first real, heart-pounding trouble in the round. Second shot on the par-5 pulled way left into the trees. Her subsequent rescue shot then hit branches and dropped downward almost directly front of her, taking the wind out of her sails for a moment. Her shoulders sunk.

She then chose her club for her fourth shot—165 yards left to the flag. A big cutting swing sent her ball high above the trees to the center-of-green. A sigh of relief. That resulted in a two-putt bogey. She survived. A 38 on the back nine. Momentum regained.

Schwartz's front nine thereafter was up and down. At one point there were back-to-back double-bogeys that reflected her weariness. Hours of playing in uncharacterstically hot September weather with still more to go. Then a birdie on hole #6. Momentum again. And a solid finish to salvage a 43.

Final score: 81.

She finished in 1st place in the Marengo Regional Tournament. She becomes the first Lady Charger to win a postseason championship.

Schwartz advances to the Rockford Lutheran Sectional in Rockford on Monday, October 6th.

** The last individual Regional Champion for ACC was Mac Cowen in 2016. Cowen fired 72 at Hughes Creek Golf Course in the Kaneland Regional.

ACC's SCHWARTZ IS GCAC ALL-CONFERENCE; PLACES 9th AT WHITE PINES

BENSENVILLE, Illinois — After two years of falling short in this challenging event, Aurora Central Catholic's Nora Schwartz has brought home a top-ten medal. She is now an "All-Conference Team" member of the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference (GCAC) of Chicago.

Schwartz did not send any lengthy "bomb" drives over trees to cut corners on doglegs. She did not dart agressive approach shots into many of the greens either. And she never sank a dramatic putt for an eagle or a birdie—in fact, she had no birdies on the day.

But what Schwartz did was finish in 9th place overall on Thursday against some of the best girl golfers in Chicagoland.

It was a day for composure. For carefully-plotted shots. Not for taking big risks. Because the event was played at White Pines Golf Club (West Course). And White Pines is tight and unforgiving.

Schwartz's tee shots were prudent because of the thin fairways flanked by aged, sinister trees with eerie limbs. Her approach shots were softly-struck and conservative because the greens were small and had dangerous landscaping behind them. And her putting approach was altered because the greens were either slow or her ball rested on steep inclines.

In the end, the steady approach resulted in no lost balls, no golf balls making ripples in ponds or streams, and...a medal to take home with her.

ACC sophomore Alyssa Alicz also survived the long day on the long golf course. The JV-level golfer stepped up; she threw her hat into the Varsity-level competition. As she had done this past weekend in Frankfort, Alicz hit drives straight and never got into trouble. Her putting improved. Her composure was excellent. She finished 70th of the 81 varsity golfers.

The Lady Chargers now enter the postseason. They will play the Regional tournament in Marengo next Tuesday.

ACC's COLE WOLF FIRES 85 AT AURORA COUNTRY CLUB

AURORA, Illinois — In the Marmion Academy Tournament at Aurora Country Club on Wednesday, the ACC Chargers competed against some very tough competition. Batavia, St. Viator, and Providence Catholic to name a few.

ACC sophomore Cole Wolf carded two birdies on his way to an 85 that led all ACC golfers. He was supported by fellow sophomore Zach O'Donoghue who sunk a 15-foot par putt on the treacherous hole #3 to highlight his afternoon—a final score of 88. Luke Torrance birdied hole #1 and too shot 88.

Also competing for the Chargers were Nick Hipp (96), Braden Dillon (99), and Nathan Shankle (109).

The Chargers' next outing will be in the IHSA Regionals at Inwood Golf Course in Joliet next week.

LOYOLA ACADEMY TAKES CCL CROWN; CHARGERS PLACE 14th

LEMONT, Illinois — At Cog Hill Golf & Country Club on Monday, the Aurora Central Catholic Charger team tossed itself into a field teeming with golf talent. The Chicago Catholic League boasts some of the top golf teams in Illinois.

While the Chargers were outmatched, finishing 14th of 15 teams, they are young comparatively—six players are sophomores. And they competed admirably.

Junior Braden Dillon led the Chargers with 88, followed closely by sophomore Nick Hipp's 89. They were supported by Luke Torrance (94), Cole Wolf (95), Zach O'Donoghue (93), and senior Stephen Dallas (99).

Wilmette's Loyola Academy took home the team championship with an impressive 297 team score at the famed Cog Hill course. The top three individual scorers were Xander Schafer (70) of Loyola Academy, Jonathan Schlender (71) of Providence Catholic, and Santino Pilotto (71) of Chicago's Mt. Carmel.

The ACC Chargers are in action again Wednesday at Aurora Country Club in the Marmion Academy Tournament.