North Catholic junior Maddie Smithco has been battling on the golf course the entire season and qualified for the two-day PIAA Class 2A girls individual championships that open Monday at Heritage Hills in York, Pa.
She won the WPIAL individual championship by one shot over 2017 titlist Tatum McKelvey of Sewickley Academy and earned her return trip to the state tournament with a 5-over 77 that was good for fourth place in the Western Regional at Tom’s Run.
And she’s doing it all while dealing with the aftereffects of a concussion she sustained earlier in the year.
“It’s off and on and [Monday at the regional] was not a good day,” Smithco said. “The rain, I have migraines and it makes my migraines come on more, so that just makes it worse. A sunny day might have helped.”
A few days prior to playing in the regional, she shot a 74 that included a hole in one at Cedarbrook in the WPIAL Class 2A boys team finals. North Catholic doesn’t have a girls team so she plays for the Trojans team but competes against the girls in individual tournaments
Still, coming into state finals as a defending champion will have a much different feel than it did when she was the runner-up to Greensburg Central Catholic’s Olivia Zambruno as a freshman.
“Trying to defend it is going to be hard,” Smithco said. “But my past couple rounds have been really good and I think I have it in me, but I am definitely more nervous than last year.”
Class 3A girls
As of right now, North Allegheny senior Caroline Wrigley has had one of the best careers of any golfer in WPIAL history.
She has won three WPIAL Class 3A titles.
In 2017, she shot a 5-under par in the finals which was the best score in more than 20 years.
She has been a member of a Tigers squad that has won four consecutive WPIAL team championships and two PIAA team titles with the potential for a third on Wednesday.
There is only one thing missing from the Furman recruit’s resume — an individual state title.
She finished third in 2017, four shots behind Pine-Richland’s Lauren Freyvogel. She missed the cut at Tom’s Run as a sophomore in 2016, a year after she came in 12th as a freshman in 2015.
And it’s the one thing she has looked forward to all season.
“I probably have put more pressure on myself than I need to,” Wrigley said. “It’s been my goal since my freshman year, so I’m really hoping to get this one.”
Wrigley has been on fire over the past few weeks. She won the WPIAL title with a 1-under 71 at Diamond Run, blistered Cedarbrook with a 6-under 65 in the team finals and was the only girl to break par in either classification at Tom’s Run with a 1-under 71.
All five qualifiers out of Tom’s Run were from the WPIAL.
Class 3A boys
Brice Delaney of Shady Side Academy and Latrobe senior Brady Pevarnik shot a 1-over 73 at Tom’s Run and were three shots away from missing the cut.
That’s how tight it was.
Last season, the cutoff was 79 and that three-shot shift can be pointed to one player who almost single-handedly moved the line — Franklin Regional senior Palmer Jackson. He blistered Tom’s Run with a 6-under 66 and may be peaking at just the right time.
Last season, Jackson tied for second in the state finals, one shot off the lead. Reigning WPIAL champion Jimmy Meyers of Central Catholic, who shot 75 in the regional, was only two back of the lead.
Pevarnik, who finished tied for third in 2016, missed the cut by one stroke at Tom’s Run last year.
Class 2A boys
Skyler Fox has dominated the WPIAL like few in history as he is only the third player ever to win three individual titles in a row.
A state title, though, is the one individual accolade that has eluded him.
Fox, a Riverside junior, was one shot back and came in second as a freshman in 2016. Last year, his two-day score went from 147 his first time around to 152 and that five-shot swing was the difference between first and fifth place.
First Published: October 19, 2018, 11:00 a.m.
