The Upper Dublin boys finished fourth and the Hatboro-Horsham girls finished sixth in the state golf championships Wednesday.
By Ben Reese
In conditions better suited for a swim meet, the PIAA held its team competition at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York on Wednesday.
As the rain poured down, six Class AAA boys’ teams and six girls’ teams along with four AA boys’ and four girls’ teams slogged around the course. In the final tally, St. Joseph's Prep took the boys AAA title and Central Valley the girls AAA crown.
As for the Suburban One League boys’ team, Upper Dublin, and a Hatboro-Horsham girls’ squad that plays out of the PAC-10, neither won but both came out all the richer for the experience. The Flying Cardinals finished fourth and the Hatters took sixth.
"Conditions were horrible," Hatboro-Horsham coach Glenn Kaiser said. "There was standing water on the greens."
Upper Dublin coach Dave Koch agreed.
"Conditions were tough," he said.
Despite all the water, Koch was pleased with his team's showing. To finish fourth among all the golf teams competing in Pennsylvania is a huge achievement.
"We finished fourth," Koch said. "We'll take that, fourth in the state."
The experience will definitely benefit the returning golfers in 2015.
"Four of the five will be back next year," the coach said. "I think we have a real good shot (at returning to states as a team)."
Upper Dublin will actually lose two seniors, Matt Amey and Mark Lunney. Jack Melville (junior), Michael Reed-Price (junior), Cole Swiger (junior) and David Kim (sophomore) will all be back.
"We'll have one more year as strong contenders," Koch continued. "It's been quite a ride — 14-0 in league, the SOLs, districts, two kids at regionals and states."
In the team competition, Melville led the way for the Cardinals with a 79, followed by Reed-Price with an 84, Kim with an 86, Swiger an 87 and Amey a 93. The team finished with a 436.
On the girls side, Hatters' coach Kaiser was very happy with the experience his girls received by playing in the state competition. He emphasized to his team that they were one of the six best teams in the state.
"It was a great experience for the girls to get here and play with the elite in the state," Kaiser said. "That's what we're gaining, the experience.
"We look at it like we're one of the best in the state. It makes me feel good that we're where we are."
Kaiser has said that the plan has always been for the Hatters to get to the states at the completion of the team's fifth year. This was the fourth.
"We're about a year ahead of schedule," he said. "We thought we'd be here next year.
"I'll tell you one thing, these girls are not happy. They're going to come back next year.
"A lot of credit goes to these six girls. They just battled all the way to York."
Cassidy Gavaghan led the Hatters with a 90 and Hannah Fireman contributed a 99. Hatboro-Horsham finished with a 443 score.
About the Author
