Walker, DiLisio, Rogowicz square off in District One tourney

   The high school postseason shifts into high gear Monday as the District One Tournament tees off.

   The opening round for the girls will be at Gilbertsville Golf Club with the tourney concluding Tuesday at Turtle Creek Golf Club after the field is cut following Monday’s opening round. The always contentious boys tourney opens Monday at the Turtle and also concludes there Tuesday following a cut after Monday’s round.

   The Class AAA and AA team champions for the girls will be crowned Monday at Gilbertsville. The battle for district supremacy that has been waged between Radnor and Mount St. Joseph will not be part of the story this year as the Raiders, the 2012 Class AAA state champion, couldn’t quite find the numbers  to field a team. That should pave the way for a repeat for the Mount as district champ as they try to make it two straight PIAA Class AAA crowns.

   A real heavyweight battle is shaping up among the individual Class AAA girls.

   Mount St. Joseph senior Isabella DiLisio is the reigning state champion and remains one of the state’s top players. Pennsbury senior Jackie Rogowicz is the defending District One champion and has been the runnerup at the PIAA tourney each of the last two years.

   Those outstanding upperclassmen know a challenge may be coming from Radnor junior All-Delco Brynn Walker. All Walker did at last week’s Central League Tournament at Turtle Creek was make five birdies and an eagle in a scintillating round of 5-under 67.

   Walker is coming off a busy summer of golf during which she qualified for both the U.S. Girls' Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur tournaments and won the two local American Junior Golf Association events, and those are just the highlights.

   Just a day after going low at Turtle Creek last week, Walker teamed up with her pal, Council Rock North junior Madelein Herr, younger sister of two-time PIAA champion Erica Herr, to claim medalist honors for next year’s inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

   The USGA decided to drop the men’s and women’s Public Links championships and replace them with men’s and women’s four-ball championships. Walker will make the Women’s Four-Ball her fourth USGA event – she represented Pennsylvania in the Women’s State Team Championship a year ago – as she and Herr, another of the top contenders at this week’s district tourney, teamed up for a better-ball of 1-under par at Somerset Hills Golf Club in Somerset N.J.

   Walker and Herr will head for the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon next May for the Women’s Four-Ball.

   As Walker pointed out at the beginning of the high school season, she was running into DiLisio and Rogowicz all summer and each girl got the better of the others at one time or another.

   DiLisio, who denied Erica Herr a third straight PIAA title by draining a dramatic 25-foot putt for eagle on the final hole of the PIAA Tournament at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort last year, won the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur championship late in the summer. DiLisio matched the feat of Chichester’s three-time Daily Times Player of the Year Aurora Kan by holding the state high school and women’s amateur crowns at the same time, although Kan won the women’s title the summer before nailing down the high school crown in 2010.

   DiLisio won the district title as a sophomore two years ago after she and Rogowicz both opened with 66s at Gilbertsville. Walker was the runnerup to Rogowicz at districts a year ago after opening up with a 75 at Gilbertsville before posting a second-round of 2-under 70 at the Turtle. That still left her seven shots back of Rogowicz, who shot 69 at the both Gilbertsville and Turtle Creek. Walker earned a state medal by finishing in a tie for fifth at Heritage Hills with a pair of 80s.

   Walker isn’t the only Delco girl with a shot to extend her postseason road to next week’s East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club in Berks County.

   Two of Walker’s teammates, sophomore Gabby Kim and senior Julia Curley had strong showings at the Central tourney at Turtle Creek. Kim was second to Walker with an outstanding 1-over 73. Curley finished fourth with an 84. Walker and Curley were both key members of the Radnor team that won the state team title in 2012.

   Other Delco girls in the field at the district tournament from the Central League are Garnet Valley’s Annika Vandayar, Marple Newtown’s Devon DelFranco, Penncrest’s Jessica Davis (who I inexplicably left out of my list of district qualifiers in my account from the Central tourney that appeared in Tuesday’s Daily Times, although she was included in the results on the Delco Scoreboard page), Strath Haven’s Lauren Butscher and Marple Newtown’s Soobin An.

   Chichester sophomore Caprian Kan earned a spot in the district field at last week’s Del Val League Tournament and Sun Valley’s Hannah Turner, who has been the top player for the Vanguards in several of their matches this fall, qualified for districts out of the Ches-Mont League tourney.

   Heading the boys individual chase in Class AAA is Methacton sophomore Kyle Vance, who burst onto the scholastic scene by winning the district title as a freshman and leading the Warriors to the district team title.

   Heading the Delco contingent are a pair of three-time district qualifiers in Penncrest senior Griffin Colvin and Radnor senior Paul Yun. Colvin fired a 1-over 73 to finish in a tie for second  at the Central tourney last week. Yun finished in a tie for ninth at Centrals with a 76, but he reached the East Regional as a sophomore after leading the district tournament after the first round.

   Also teeing it up Monday at the Turtle will be Marple Newtown’s Joey DelFranco, who shared second with Colvin at Centrals with a 73, Radnor ‘s Jacob Liberman, Michael Sydnes, Tom Hamilton, Kevin Seits and Jack Staples, Penncrest’s Cace Strother, Garnet Valley’s Mike Stanilka, Ridley’s Greg Myers, and Springfield’s Derrick Baun.

   The one-day District 12 Tournament will be contested Monday at Melrose Country Club with Bonner-Prendie senior All-Delco Quinn Dolan, Cardinal O’Hara junior Alec Kerr, and O’Hara senior Shane Dougherty representing Delco among the Catholic League contingent.

Haverford School jumps back in front

   Haverford School and Malvern Prep took turns atop the Inter-Ac League standings during back-to-back mini-tournaments held Tuesday and Wednesday.

   Malvern Prep, getting an outstanding 3-under 32 from Nick Miller, won Tuesday’s event, hosted by Penn Charter at the tough Huntingdon Valley Country Club. The reigning league champion Friars finished with a 222 total to finish seven shots clear of runnerup Haverford School.

   The Fords, led by a 36 from junior Max Siegfried, did a good job of holding off an outstanding effort by Episcopal Academy to finish second and maintain a share of first place with Malvern Prep. Haverford School had a one-match lead over the Friars going into the week.

   Episcopal was led by freshman Jon Nolan Perry, who had a 1-over 36, in finishing two shots back of Haverford School with a 231 total. Seniors Trey Croney and Joe Chambers added scores of 37 and 38, respectively, for the Churchmen.

   The next day, the Inter-Ac was back at it at Sunnybrook Golf Club in a mini-tournament hosted by Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.

   Haverford School, led by a 35 from Otis Baker, a 36 by Jack Henderson and a 37 by Siegfried, regained sole possession of first place in the league with a 227 total. That was nine shots clear of Malvern. That makes Haverford School 18-2 with a one-match lead over the Friars at 17-3 with two mini-tournaments left.  The teams reconvene for mini-tournament No. 5 Tuesday at Gulph Mills Golf Club.

   Episcopal had another strong third-place showing at Sunnybrook with a 240 total, just two shots back of  Malvern Prep. The Churchmen were led by Chambers with a 36 and Perry with a 37.

   Chambers sits in second place in the cumulative individual rankings behind only Malvern Prep’s Nick Miller, who backed up his 32 at Huntingdon Valley with a team-best 38 at Sunnybrook.

Colvin, Kan, Lees pick up titles

   Several of Delco’s scholastic standouts tuned up for the District One tourney by teeing it up in a Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour tournament Saturday at Green Valley Country Club.

   Morning showers caused a one-hour delay at the start, but it didn’t seem to bother Penncrest senior Griffin Colvin, who had three birdies in a 5-over 76 at the 6,419-yard, par-71 Green Valley layout to take top honors in the 16-to-18 division.

   Ryan Brennan of Media finished ninth in the division with a 91.

   Chichester sophomore Caprian Kan topped the 13-to-15 girls field with an 83.

   The scholastic season for Agnes Irwin sophomore Kaitlyn Lees is in the spring, but Lees showed her game is in good shape by topping the 16-to-18 division with an 84. Caitlin Bullock, a junior at Radnor, was second with a 104 and Maggie Cass of Wayne finished third with a 110.

   Aronimink Golf Club’s Billy Civitella fired a 77 to earn a share of second in the 13-to-15 division, two shots back of Michael Limongelli of Phoenixville.

   John Updike of Wayne finished in a tie for fourth with a 79.

   Other Delco finishers in the division included AJ Aivazoglou (84, tied for seventh) of Glen Mills; Case Hummer (85, tied for 10^th) of Glen Mills; Kevin Smith (85, tied for 10^th) of Wallingford; Joseph Morganti (92, tied for 16^th) of Havertown; David Hurly (94, 18^th) of Newtown Square; Blake Stephano (96, 20^th) of Radnor; Daniel Bullock (98, 22^nd) of Wayne; and Alec Stern (109, 27^th) of Bryn Mawr.

   Aronimink’s Kevin Civitella finished third among the nine-holers with a 50. Patrick Nichols of Berwyn took division honors with a 47.