Mount St. Joseph junior Olivia Wirshing belts her ball across a water hazard and onto the green. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

As in most years, Mount St. Joseph Academy’s golf season ended at the PIAA State Championships at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York. Last Wednesday the Magic placed third in the 2018 team tournament behind two-time defending state champion North Allegheny High School - the District 7 champion from outside of Pittsburgh - and the Mount’s own District 1 rival, Downingtown East High School.

Making a strange decision for a “team” tournament, the PIAA decided in 2017 to count only the top three individual scores towards each team’s total. The PIAA boys follow a count-four format, and in most league events the top five scores are included.

In the girls’ Class AAA (large school) division, North Allegheny was powered by state individual champion Caroline Wrigley, a senior headed for Furman University who shot a two-under par 70 at Heritage Hills. With teammates adding scores of 86 and 87, North Allegheny overcame a challenge from Downingtown East, 243-247, while the Mount took third place over Erie’s McDowell High School, 256-263. Fifth and sixth were Hershey (269) and Hazelton (280).

Mount St. Joe junior Olivia Wirsching had qualified for the PIAA individual championships, which were staged on Monday and Tuesday prior to the team tourney. She tied for 16th place there, and went on to lead the Mount St. Joe contingent on Wednesday, shooting an 82. The Magic’s team captain, senior Brianna Mahon, carded an 86.

All of the other three States players for the Mount are graduates of Norwood Fontbonne Academy. Sophomore Clare Gimpel completed the Magic’s official team score with a round of 88, while Nora Blatney shot a 93 and fellow ninth-grader Caroline Gola had a score of 97.

Over the years, weather conditions in York have been unpleasant for the tournament – very windy, rainy, or cold – until just the last few seasons. On Wednesday it was only a little chilly, and following partly cloudy skies in the morning and early afternoon, the sun made more of a showing in the latter stages of play.

The conditions on the ground, however, were dry, hard and fast, which was fine except for the fact that a very rainy fall in southeastern Pennsylvania had gotten teams like Downingtown and the Mount used to slower, softer surfaces. Pin placement, as usual, was very challenging for high school players, and overall only North Allegheny’s Wrigley seemed truly at home on the course.

The Mount Magic began to adjust as their rounds went on, but they’d fallen too far behind on the early holes.

“We were second out of the teams on the back nine,” pointed out MSJ head coach John Mischler, “but we were fifth on the front nine, and we couldn’t make that up.”

After winning the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies championship for the 16th consecutive year, Mount St. Joseph earned its sixth straight District 1 team championship, thus advancing to the state tournament. Ordinarily, only district champions play at States, but Downingtown East had finished just one stroke behind the Mount at the District 1 tournament, and the Cougars successfully petitioned to be included in the field at York.

Norwood Fontbonne Academy grad Clare Gimpel, now a Mount sophomore, tracks the path of her putt as it rolls toward the hole. (Photo by Tom Utescher)