H.S. Golf: Players’ attention turns to postseason

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The Wyoming Valley Conference completed its golf regular season Thursday, setting the stage for postseason competition.

Emphasis switches to individual play Monday before returning to team competition a week later.

Crestwood and Lake-Lehman repeated first-place finishes in the division standings, but still need to get through one more step before getting a chance to defend their District 2 team titles. Lake-Lehman is also the defending Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 2A state champion.

Regular-season recap

Lake-Lehman had another perfect season while winning the WVC Division 2 title.

Crestwood won another Division 1 championship, but lost once along the way to third-place Wyoming Area and won by just one stroke over second-place Dallas while clinching sole possession of first place in its final regular-season match.

The first- and second-place teams in each division meet Oct. 5 at Fox Hill Country Club to determine which represent the WVC against the top Lackawanna League teams in the district finals. Crestwood and Dallas will meet again to decide the Class 3A representative while Lake-Lehman meets Wyoming Seminary to determine which plays in Class 2A.

The final regular-season standings Division 1: Crestwood 13-1, Dallas 11-3, Wyoming Area 10-4, Pittston Area 9-5, Hazleton Area 5-9, Wilkes-Barre Area 5-9, Tunkhannock 3-11 and Wyoming Valley West 0-14.

In Division 2: Lake-Lehman 12-0, Wyoming Seminary 10-2, Holy Redeemer 8-4, Berwick 6-6, MMI Prep 4-8, Hanover Area 1-11, Nanticoke 1-11.

Individual qualifiers

The WVC is scheduled to conduct its qualifier for the District 2 Individual Championships Monday at Fox Hill, beginning at 9 a.m.

The top 20 boys from the 10 WVC Class 3A teams, provided they shoot 93 or better, will qualify for the Oct. 3 District 2 Tournament, which will also be held at Fox Hill.

There are 10 Class 2A boys spots available for players from the five WVC schools. They also need to shoot 93 or better.

Any girl shooting 100 or better will advance to the district tournament.

In Class 3A girls, District 2 will combine with District 4 in a subregional, which will also be played as part of the Oct. 3 tournament, which starts at 10 a.m. with a shot-gun start at Fox Hill.

The top three District 2 girls will earn medals, but the three state spots will require a finish in the top three of the subregional, including District 4 players.

There are also three medals and three spots available for District 2’s Class 2A girls.

The top six boys in Class 2A earn medals and state berths. The top four land those honors in Class 3A.

The Lackawanna League already held its qualifiers.

Abington Heights teammates Alec Hamilton and Cade Kelleher led the way in Class 3A boys, finishing tied for first with 3-over-par, 75s at Elkview Country Club Monday. A playoff among players who shot 88s determined the last of the 16 qualifiers.

Riverside’s Michael Maslanka shot 76 to lead Class 2A where the Lackawanna only landed 22 of its available 30 spots by having players shoot 93 or better.

Gwen Powell from North Pocono led Class 3A girls with a 74. The Lackawanna qualified six girls in Class 3A and five in Class 2A, led by a 79 from Honesdale’s Kayla Benson.

Powell, Wallenpaupack’s Kevin Wortmann in Class 3A boys and Wyoming Seminary’s Nick Werner in Class 2A boys are all returning individual district champions.

The PIAA state tournament for individuals will be held Oct. 16 and 17 at Penn State.

Team playoffs

The District 2 girls team championships are scheduled for Tuesday at Honesdale Golf Club.

North Pocono, in Class 3A, and Scranton Prep, in Class 2A, are defending champions.

The boys team finals are Oct. 9 at Elkview Country Club. Abington Heights and Scranton Prep are currently unbeaten division leaders in the Lackawanna League, but they will still need to get through a Lackawanna playoff bracket in order to land spots against the WVC representatives.

A Subregional between team champions from Districts 2 and 4 will be held Oct. 11 at Williamsport Country Club to determine representatives in the six-team state fields for Oct. 18 at Penn State.