Susanin has leading role at Dartmouth and some familar names at Landfall

   It’s been a pretty busy fall on the links and I haven’t been able to keep up with some of the college golfers, both former Delco standouts and some of the District One players they competed against, so I picked a couple of events to spotlight how some of the top female players in the area fared this fall.

   It was an interesting fall for Radnor All-Delco Jamie Susanin, a junior at Dartmouth. I’m certain Susanin was being kept abreast of developments at home where Brynn Walker, Susanin’s teammate on Radnor’s 2012 PIAA girls team champions, won her second straight state individual crown and helped the Raiders win the Class AAA state boys team title.

   Susanin found herself a veteran on a team suddenly filled with talented youngsters. I’m guessing she took to a leadership role in much the same way she did when she was the clear leader of the Radnor girls team that won that 2012 PIAA title.

   Susanin had a solid showing at the Rutgers Women’s Invitational , finishing tied for 16^th individually with rounds of 75, 79 and 82 at the Rutgers University Golf Course for a 236 total.

   Susanin helped the Big Green finish fifth overall at 941, three shots back of fourth-place Xavier and eight shots clear of host Rutgers in sixth. Dartmouth had rounds of 315, 309 and 317.

   Julie Calbi, a freshman, led the way for Dartmouth, finishing in a tie for third with rounds of 81, 71 and 74 for a 226 total. Isabelle Kane, a sophomore, finished tied for 12th with rounds of 76, 78 and 80 for a 234 total and two other freshmen, Hana Bradshaw (83-81-86) and Catharine Roddy (86-83-81) finished in the group tied for 45^th at 250.

   Individual medalist Andrea Sloane (75-74-73—222) led Delaware to the team title as the Blue Hens registered rounds of 302, 304 and 317 for a 923 total that was 10 shots clear of runnerup Brown.

   A couple of weeks earlier at the Dartmouth Invitational at Hanover Country Club, Susanin headed the Dartmouth B team to a seventh-place finish in the team standings.

   Meanwhile, the youngsters populating the A team won the team title as Kane (73-73—146) placed third, Calbi (73-76—149) finished tied for fourth, Bradshaw (71-79—150) was tied for sixth, Roddy (80-76--156) was tied for 13^th and Angela Zhang (77-82—159), yet another freshman, was tied for 21^st.

   It added up to sparkling rounds of 294 and 304 for a 598 total that was 18 shots clear of runnerup Hartford at 616.

   Dartmouth’s B team was led by sophomore Jessica Kittelberger, who had rounds of 80 and 76 and finished tied for 13^th with, among others, her teammate Roddy. Susanin had rounds of 77 and 80 to finish tied for 16^th as the B teamers put up rounds of 319 and 318 for a 637 total.

   Senior Lily Morrison (77-82—159) ended up in a tie for 21^st and junior Tara Simmons (85-80—165) was tied for 37^th .

   With Susanin helping to mentor all that young talent, Dartmouth will be tough in the spring.

   There were some very familiar names when many of the top women’s programs descended on the Country Club of Landfall’s Dye Course for the Landfall Tradition Oct. 23 and 24 in Wilmington, N.C.

    Lauren Waller, the Canon-McMillan product who lost to Radnor’s Walker in a playoff at the 2014 PIAA Class AAA Tournament, is having a breakout freshman season for Denise St. Pierre at Penn State.

   Waller had rounds of 75, 72 and 68 to finish alone in ninth place at the Landfall with a 215 total. She helped the Nittany Lions finish 13^th in the powerhouse 18-team field with rounds of 305, 302 and 285 for an 892 total.

   Another of St. Pierre’s prized freshmen, Jackie Rogowicz, a two-time District One champion at Pennsbury, had rounds of 77, 77 and 72 to finish tied for 47^th at 226. Although she didn’t make the trip to Landfall, Cara Basso, a PIAA Class AA champion at Villa Maria, is another freshman on the Penn State roster. And they’ll be joined by this year’s District One champion, Madelein Herr of Council Rock North.

   While powerhouse Duke cruised to the team title with an 855 total, surprising Notre Dame finished second with an 866. And followers of District One golf aren’t the least bit surprised to learn that a resurgence in women’s golf for the Fighting Irish coincides with the arrival of Isabella DiLisio, the 2013 PIAA Class AAA champion and 2014 Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion.

   DiLisio was threatening to win the individual title at Landfall when she opened up with rounds of 67 and 70. She fell back with a final-round 84, but her 221 total left her in a tie for 35^th. The Irish were led by senior captain Talia Campbell (72-76-71) and freshman Maddie Rose Hamilton (77-74-68), who finished tied for 19^th at 219.

   But the runnerup finish for Notre Dame capped a fall season that coach Susan Holt characterized as the best in the program’s history and DiLisio was right in the middle of it.

   Another familiar name at Landfall was that of Wake Forest sophomore Erica Herr, a back-to-back PIAA champion at Council Rock North.  Herr had rounds of 74, 78 and 76 to finish in a tie for 53^rd at 228 and help the Demon Deacons finish seventh at 886.

   And after following the fortunes of Purdue the last four years during the outstanding run of Chichester product Aurora Kan there, I can’t completely let go of the Boilers. They finished a shot back of Wake Forest in eighth at 867 with rounds of 296, 300 and 291.

   Kan led Purdue to the brink of the final eight and match-play competition at last spring’s NCAA Tournament and the Boilermakers will be a force before it’s all said and done in the 2015-16 season. They were led by Anna Appert Lund, their senior from Sweden who has no doubt inherited the leadership mantle from Kan.

   Appert Lund finished in a tie for 10^th at Landfall with rounds of 70, 77 and 70 for a 217 total and August Kim, the talented junior from St. Augustine, Fla., was a shot back of her teammate with rounds of 74, 74 and 70 for a 218 total that left her in a tie for 16^th.