Congrats to Joe Grundy for placing 60th at the State Tournament!

Senior Golf Interviews

Grundy finishes play at state tournament after recording an 83 in day two

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

STATE COLLEGE — Saegertown’s Joe Grundy completed play at the state golf tournament after shooting an 83 at Penn State University’s Blue Course on Tuesday.

After shooting an 87 during the first round on Monday, Grundy finished with an overall score of 170, which tied him for 60th place in the Class 2A field.

On Tuesday, Grundy shot a 42 on the front nine. His card consisted of two bogeys, two double bogeys and and five pars. On the back nine, Grundy recorded a 41 with one birdie, three pars, four bogeys and one double bogey.

Union City’s Josh James, the defending state champion, scored an 81 on Tuesday after being in the lead on Monday. James finished with a 150, which put him in ninth place. Slippery Rock’s Jacob Wolak, another District 10 representative, finished in second place with a 139. Devon Prep’s Nick Ciocca won the championship after shooting a 138.

Grundy cards an 87 on day one

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

STATE COLLEGE — Saegertown’s Joe Grundy shot an 87 on day one of the state golf tournament at Penn State University’s Blue Course on Monday.

The senior opened on hole 10 and shot a 42 on the back nine. His card consisted of four pars, four bogeys and one double bogey. On the front nine, he recorded two pars, five bogeys and two double bogeys for a 45.

Grundy’s 87 puts him 15 over par on the par-72 6,386-yard Blue Course. He is in 64th place in the Class 2A field.

Grundy will tee off at 9:55 today on hole 10 for the second and final day of competition.

Union City’s Josh James, the defending state champion, is in first place with a 69. Another District 10 representative in Slippery Rock’s Jacob Wolak is tied for sixth with a 72.

Saegertown’s Joe Grundy tees off at state tournament

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

Saegertown senior Joe Grundy tees off today in the PIAA Class 2A individual golf tournament and sees it as “icing on the cake.”

The senior qualified for the tournament after an eighth-place finish at the District 10 golf tournament at The Country Club on Oct 1. Grundy beat Mercyhurst Prep’s Nick Momeyer in a twohole playoff to clinch his state tournament berth.

“It’s really just icing on the cake,” Grundy said. “I got through all the hard stuff already so now I can just go out there and play golf.”

Grundy will tee off at 9:35 a.m. on hole 10 at Penn State University’s 6,386-yard Blue Course.

Grundy played the course on Sunday in a practice round to get a feel for it.

“It’s a beautiful course,” Grundy said. “Most of the holes open up on the right. It plays a lot like Venango Valley, which is my home course so that’s a nice advantage.”

Saegertown golf coach Brian Hanley is no stranger to the state tournament. Most recently, he made the trip last year when Dylan Flinchbaugh qualified after winning the District 10 Class 2A title.

This year’s tournament differs from last. Firstly, the venue changed from Heritage Hills in York to State College. The tournament will also be 36 holes instead of 18.

“It’s our first time here, but I like it a lot more than Heritage Hills,” Hanley said. “It’s more of a championship course.”

Hanley also compared the Blue Course to Venango Valley.

“The greens arn’t too fast and it’s putting a lot like Venango Valley. It’s more open than I expected,” Hanley said. “It’s fair in the sense that it’s good for long ball hitters and short ball hitters while Heritage Hills you really needed to be a long ball hitter.”

Hanley said Grundy is laser focused and expects him to perform well in the tournament.

Grundy advances to state golf tournament

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

WOODCOCK TOWNSHIP — Saegertown senior Joe Grundy earned a berth in the PIAA tournament with his eighth-place finish at Saturday’s District 10 golf tournament at The Country Club.

Grundy carded a 79 on Friday, the first day of the individual tournament. He followed with an 85 on Saturday for a total of 164. Grundy was tied with Mercyhurst Prep’s Nick Momeyer for eighth-place and two golfers went into a playoff to determine who would advance to the state tournament.

After two holes, Grundy came out on top and will represent Saegertown for the Oct. 17-18 state tournament at Penn State University’s Blue and White Courses.

Union City’s Josh James won the Class 2A field with his total score of 150. Cathedral Prep’s Breckin Taylor won the Class 3A tournament.

In the girls tournament, Meadville’s Kelsi Hefner shot a 98 on Saturday after Thursday’s 110. Hefer finished with an 208 after two days at The Country Club.

Saegertown takes fourth at districts, Joe Grundy to play today

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

WOODCOCK TOWNSHIP — The Saegertown boys golf team managed a 360 at Friday’s District 10 tournament, which gave the Panthers a fourth-place finish at The Country Club.

Head coach Brian Hanley is happy with how his boys played on Friday and throughout the entire season — especially considering he has three athletes juggling golf and football.

“I have three football players that are trying to play both so the time they can spend with me and on this course is limited,” Hanley said. “I was hoping for better, but I’m a realist. It’s about what I thought would have happened today. “I’m not disappointed at all. I love all my boys. They’re pretty much a redneck team. Half of them duck and goose hunt — golf — maybe not.”

Leading the Panthers was senior Joe Grundy with a 79. Jon Grundy shot an 89 and Wyatt Zirkle a 95. Also playing for Saegertown was Sully Zirkle (97) and Hank Shaffer (114). The top three scores counted toward the team score.

“I’m proud of every single one of them. They helped us throughout the year to win the region title. They had some crucial scores this season,” Hanley said. “Going into the year I was hoping for a team that would shoot in the 80s because I knew that would win the region. I’m really happy with what we had this year.”

Individually, Grundy’s 79 puts him in fifth after the first round. Josh James, last year’s PIAA Class 2A champion, is first with a 76. Fort LeBoeuf’s Nathan Feltmeyer is second (77) while Owen Kemp and Jacob Wolak are tied for third (78).

“Overall, there were a couple rough shots here and there, but I’ll definitely take a 79,” Grundy said. “On the year I’ve been shooting high 70s to low 80s so today was really good. I’m hoping for the same thing tomorrow and to continue on.”

The top eight golfers after today’s second round will advance to the state meet. Grundy just missed the cut last year.

“If he as an average day he’ll be fine. He didn’t let the nerves get to him today,” Hanley said. “I was in the group with him so I thought that may be a bad combination, but it turned out to be good. Especially on this course, every pin is on a back edge or right edge, they’re all in problem places. The course was not playing easy. All the rain, the rough is thick and deep, the greens are fast and the pins are hard. Luckily the weather wasn’t horrible today.”

The weather was about 51 degrees when the golfers teed off with a light wind. It wasn’t perfect, but compared to the rain of the last week it was a welcome reprieve. Rain from earlier in the week did make an impact on Friday.

“There were a lot of soft spots out there. The greens weren’t checking up as much as I thought they would,” Grundy said.

As far as his mindset for today, Grundy is locked in.

“I just need to focus, hit fairways, two putt, get pars and not go for the hero shots,” Grundy said.

Also at the tournament were Cambridge Springs seniors Josh Reisenauer and Brady Campbell. Campbell carded an 89 and Reisenauer finished with a 93.

The second and final day of the District 10 tournament is set to start at 9:30 a.m. today. In the girls tournament, Meadville’s Kelsi Hefner will represent the Lady Bulldogs. In the boys tournament, Grundy will represent the Panthers.

Saegertown eyes District title at The Country Club

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

The Saegertown golf team is playing for a District 10 title at today’s boys golf Class 2A District 10 tournament at The Country Club.

The Panthers, led by No. 1 Joe Grundy, won Region 3 to qualify as a team. Joining Grundy will be Jon Grundy, Wyatt Zirkle, Sully Zirkle and Hank Shaffer. The top three scores will count toward an overall team score.

“I think they’ve been playing well as of late. We’ve been a group of 80s shooters all season. Sometimes that’s good enough and sometimes it’s not,” Saegertown head coach Brian Hanley said. “We had a practice round (Thursday) and the course is playing long with all the rain we had. I have some good long ball hitters so that may play into our favor.”

Also competing for the team title will be Lakeview, Grove City, Fairview and Oil City.

“At an invitational last week with all the teams we’ll play against tomorrow, of the five we were four out of five,” Hanley said. “I’m not over confident going into tomorrow, but I’ve been coaching a long time and I know anything can happen.

“Of all the years I’ve been doing this, this year is the most balanced. In the past Grove City or someone was way ahead of the rest, but we’re all fairly even this year.”

Last year, the Union City team won the title. Union City’s top golfer — Josh James — returns after winning a state title last season.

Individually, the top 15 golfers will advance to Saturday for day two of the tournament. The top eight finishes will play in the state tournament.

“Joe played well from the blues in a practice round (Thursday). He’s striking the ball really well. He made the cut last year and was 12 out of 15 so he was four off from states,” Hanley said. “Sometimes with seniors they’ll get so in their heads because they’ve never done it before and it will put pressure on them.”

Also representing Crawford County will be Cambridge Springs seniors Josh Reisenauer and Brady Campbell. Both are first-time district qualifiers.

Bulldogs finish third at Tam O’Shanter Invitational

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

HERMITAGE — The Meadville boys golf team placed third out of 28 teams in the Tam O’Shanter Invitational on Monday. The Bulldogs finished with an overall score of 346. Moon and Butler took the top two spots.

Phil Pandolph earned the lowest score for the Bulldogs with an 82, which tied him for 10th overall. Robert Mahoney and Alex Burgess also finished in the 80’s with scores of 84 and 89, respectively. Gino Gilberto and Jake Friters secured scores of 91 and 92, respectively.

Saegertown also finished with an overall score of 346. However, since Meadville had a lower counted score, the Panthers took home fourth place. Wyatt Zirkle led the Panthers with an 85 on the day. Hank Shaffer (86), Jon Grundy (87) and Joe Grundy (88) were not far behind Zirkle.

Conneaut brought two teams to the competition. The Eagles’ first team finished with a score of 378. Maxx Feather and Robert Gowetski each carded an 89. Kyle Herr secured a 96 while Aiden Tyson and Nathan Stockton finished with scores of 104 and 106, respectively.

Evan Carner and Charlie Woods represented Conneaut’s second team. Carner carded a 102 while Woods scored a 103.

Cambridge Springs scored a 445 as a team. Brady Campbell led the Blue Devils with a 94. Seth Glenn, Tysin Findlay and Brady Jardina secured scores of 109, 118 and 124, respectively.

Saegertown’s Wyatt Zirkle qualifies for district golf tournament

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

WATTSBURG — Saegertown senior golfer Wyatt Zirkle won a district qualifier at Scenic Heights Golf Course on Wednesday to punch his ticket to the District 10 individual golf tournament next week.

In Region 3, seven golfers qualify to compete at the individual District 10 tournament. The top five were already set, but Wednesday’s qualifier between 11 golfers determined the final two spots.

Zirkle carded an 86 to claim the top score of the day.

Fellow Panthers golfer Sully Zirkle was in a two-way tie with Union City’s Miles McCaslin — as each golfer shot an 87. After a two-hole playoff, McCaslin emerged victorious.

The seven individual qualifiers from Region 3 are Josh James (Union City), Joe Grundy (Saegertown), Brady Campbell (Cambridge Springs), Josh Reisenauer (Cambridge Springs), Jon Grundy (Saegertown), Wyatt Zirkle (Saegertown) and Miles McCaslin (Union City).

Saegertown clinched the region title earlier this month and will also compete at the District 10 tournament as a team.

Panthers win Region 3 mega match

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP — The Saegertown boys golf team won a Region 3 mega match on Wednesday at Mt. Hope Golf Course. The Panthers earned a team score of 340.

Joe Grundy earned the lowest score of the match with an 81. Hank Shaffer was second on the team with an 84. Sully and Wyatt Zirkle finished with scores of 86 and 89, respectively.

Cambridge Springs took home third place with a total score of 366. Brady Campbell led the Blue Devils with an 82. Josh Reisenauer and Gunnar Gage both scored a 94.

Maplewood finished fifth with a team score of 437. Dylan Dewey led the Tigers with a 90. Rachel Brunot was second on the team with a 104.

Union City finished second with a 356 while Seneca earned fourth with a 422.

Since Saegertown already won the region title, the team will play in the District 10 Championship. Individually, Reisenauer, Campbell, Joe Grundy, Jon Grundy and Josh James of Union City already qualified for districts. The final two spots will be determined in a region qualifier at Scenic Heights in Wattsburg next Wednesday.

Panthers win region mega match

UNION CITY — The Saegertown golf team won first place in a Region 3 mega match on Wednesday at Union City Country Club.

The Panthers earned a team score of 342. Cambridge Springs finished in third with a 367 while Maplewood placed fifth with a 472.

Wyatt Zirkle led the Panthers with an 82. Joe and Jon Grundy also finished below 90 with scores of 83 and 87, respectively.

Josh Reisenauer led the Blue Devils with an 88. Gunnar Gage was right behind him with an 89. Brady Campbell and Ian Anderson earned scores of 92 and 98, respectively.

Dylan Dewey posted the Tigers’ best score with a 104. Avery Palotas was second on the team with a 117.

Union City (365) and Seneca (454) finished second and fourth, respectively. Josh James earned the best individual score, finishing with a 74 for the Bears.

Panthers get past Bears

The Saegertown boys golf team defeated Union City in a close match between the Region 3 opponents. The Panthers scored a 395 while the Bears totaled a 405.

Spencer Keefer earned the lowest score of the field with a 86. Ryder Bailey also finished below a 90, earning an 89. Everett Gardner and Westin Baker finished with a 108 and a 112, respectively.

Eli Troyer led the Bears with a 98.

Saegertown golfers take eighth at Corry Invitational

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

CORRY — The Saegertown golf team placed eighth at the Corry Invitational at North Hills Golf Course on Thursday.

The Panthers had a team score of 358 and were led by Jon Grundy who fired an 86. Joe Grundy (89), Spencer Keefer (89) and Wyatt Zirkle (94) rounded out the scoring for Saegertown.

Meadville finished 16th with a score of 379. Sophomore Gino Gilberto led the Bulldogs with his 91. Philip Pandolph followed with a 92 while Robert Mahoney and Jake Friters carded a 97 and 99, respectively.

With a 408, Cambridge Springs finished 18th. Brady Campbell’s 90 led the way for the Blue Devils. Gunnar Gage also shot a sub-100 score with a 93.

McDowell’s blue team won the tournament with a 335 and their white team was second with a 342.

Slippery Rock’s Jake Wolak was the individual

champion with a 75.

Saegertown boys golf wins Region 3 mega match

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

Local Roundup

VENANGO TOWNSHIP — Saegertown won a Region 3 mega match at Scenic Heights Golf Course on Monday via a tiebreaker.

The top four golfers for Saegertown and Cambridge Springs tied at 340 points. The fifth golfer’s score provided a tiebreaker in favor of Saegertown.

For the Panthers, Joe Grundy led the way (80), followed by Hank Shaffer (85), Jon Grundy (86) and Ryder Bailey (86). Wyatt Zirkle shot an 89 and was the tiebreaker.

Cambridge Springs’ Brady Campbell carded a 73, which was a matchbest score. Also scoring for the Blue Devils was Josh Reisenauer (80), Gunnar Gage (93) and Brewster Brown (93). Ian Anderson was the tiebreaker with a 97. Union City was third (349). Josh James fired a 75 to pace the Bears.

Maplewood placed fourth at the match. Dylan Dewey shot a 95 to lead the way. Rounding out the scoring was Rachel Brunot (103), Avery Palotas (109) and Garrett Dewey (107).

Each school will compete at the Corry Invitational on Thursday.

Panthers golfers should ‘have a shot’ at region title

By Matthew Digiacomo

SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

If anyone knows what it takes to remain successful, it is Saegertown golf coach Brian Hanley.

Over the last 10 years or so, the Panthers have been one of the most consistent teams in the county. One of the key factors in that consistency was always having an ace to pencil into that No. 1 spot in the lineup. That key picked up in 2014 with the emergence of Ryan Peters. He was followed by the likes of Will Phelan, Ricky Kanline and, last season, Dylan Flinchbaugh. This year ...

“Joseph (Grundy) was the medalist at the Lakeview season opener,” said Hanley. “I thought Dylan was going to be difficult to replace. But Joseph has stepped right in and is scoring very well. He and John (Grundy) put in the work over the summer. So did Wyatt (Zirkle), our other returning starter.”

Unfortunately, the lineup after that trio appears to be thin on paper.

First-year players Sully Zirkle and Hank Shaffer join Joseph Grundy to make up the senior class of the group. and after John Grundy and Zirkle, Spencer Keefer, a transfer, is the only other junior. When you factor in that the remaining five players on the roster are freshmen Ross Triola, Everett Gardner, Bailey Rider, Mason Allio and Westin Baker, that means 73 percent of the team is new to Hanley.

“Hank and Sully are playing football as well,” said Hanley. “But they’ve both given me some scores right out of the gate that I wasn’t expecting. So that has been a nice surprise.

As for the five freshmen, that’s a bit unusual. Gardner won the six spot to open the season, but only by a stroke. I think there is going to be some great competition between that group and I am excited to see how they improve.”

And that could make things interesting when it comes to the end of the season.

The postseason field is going to be solid.

Union City’s Josh James is the defending champion and he is in Saegertown’s region. But while he may be the favorite in the individual race, Hanley thinks the team race is a huge question mark.

“I wasn’t sure what all Union City was going to have back,” said Hanley. “Not sure about North East, Fairview or Mercyhurst Prep either. But I do know the quality of golf across the board is down a bit and I have five solid golfers, so if one has a bad day it shouldn’t affect us.

“I think we have a shot.”

Shooting low

Saegertown wins at Riverside; Meadville takes sixth at Beechwood

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP — Saegertown won a Region 3 mega match at Riverside Golf Course on Monday.

The Panthers shot a collective 331 to beat second-place Cambridge Springs by 16 strokes. Saegertown was led by Joe Grundy, who fired a 79. Jon Grundy shot an 83, Henry Shaffer an 84 and Sully Zirkle an 85 to round out the scoring for the Panthers.

The Blue Devils were paced by Josh Reisenauer who shot a 77, which tied Union City’s Josh James for best score on the day. Cambridge was rounded out by Brady Campbell (80), Gunnar Gage (90) and Ian Anderson (100).

Maplewood placed fifth at the mega match with a team score of 452. Avery Palotas and Rachel Brunot each shot a 112 while Garrett Dewey and Dylan Dewey each shot a 114.

Each PENNCREST school will be back in action on Aug. 24 for a mega match at Scenic Heights Golf Course.

Pandolph leads ’Dogs

Phil Pandolph paced the Meadville Bulldogs in a Region 6 mega match at Beechwood Golf Course on Monday with a 77.

Meadville placed sixth out of seven teams in the match with a score of 356. After Pandolph, Robert Mahoney shot an 89, Jake Fritters an 94 and Alex Burgess an 96.

Cathedral Prep won the match with a score of 304. Breckin Taylor had a fieldbest 70 while his teammates Connor Laird (76), Trey Thompson (78) and Ryan Eastbourn (80) rounded out the scoring for the Ramblers.

Meadville will be back in action on Wednesday at North Hills Golf Course for another region mega match.

Saegertown’s Grundy wins Lakeview Invitational, Meadville places third

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP — Saegertown senior Joe Grundy started his golf season on the right foot by winning Thursday’s Lakeview Invitational at Mt. Hope Golf Course with a 75 in a playoff.

Grundy and Grove City’s Trent Nemec were tied at 75 after 18 holes. The two golfers entered a playoff to determine the winner. Grundy sunk a par putt from about 20-feet out to secure the win on the first hole of the playoff.

Grundy helped the Saegertown Panthers take fourth in the field of 25 teams with a team score of 335. Jon Grundy and Wyatt Zirkle shot an 82 and 83, respectively. Sully Zirkle fired a 95 to round out the scoring for Saegertown.

The Meadville golf team placed third at the tournament with a score of 330. Robert Mahoney and Philip Pandolph each shot an 81 while Jake Friters had an 83 and Alex Burgess finished with an 85.

Cambridge Springs managed a ninth-place finish with a score of 353. Brady Campbell led the way with an 81 while Gunnar Gage (87) and Josh Reisenauer (89) each fired sub-90 rounds. Brewster Brown shot a 96.

Conneaut finished with a 426. Robert Gowetski shot a 104, Nathan Stockton a 105, Matt Feather a 108 and Aiden Tyson a 109. For Maplewood, Avery Palotas finished with a 110, Garrett Dewey with a 114, Dylan Dewey with a 118 and Zane Hall with a 120.

Grove City won the invitational behind Nemec’s 75 and a team score of 320 while McDowell took second with a 329.