Trio of freshmen are Penn State's leading ladies at Briar's Creek

   It was October of 2014 and Penn State women’s golf coach Denise St. Pierre looked pleased at what she was seeing in the final round of the PIAA Tournament at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort.

   Lauren Waller, a senior at Canon-McMillan, and Jackie Rogowicz, a senior at Pennsbury, were playing in the final group in Class AAA. Waller would eventually fall in a playoff for the title with Radnor junior Brynn Walker.

   St.  Pierre didn’t have to travel far to watch two of her other prized recruits. Villa Maria senior Cara Basso and Council Rock North junior Madelein Herr were also among the medal contenders playing in the final groups. St. Pierre was smiling that day because she knew a year later she would have Waller, Rogowicz and Basso on her roster with Herr to follow a year later.

   Waller, Rogowicz and Basso are in the second half of their freshman season and they were Penn State’s top performers this week against a top-notch field that gathered at The Golf Club at Briar’s Creek in Johns Island, S.C. for the Briar’s Creek Invitational, which concluded Tuesday.

   The steady Waller led the way for the Nittany Lions with rounds of 71, 72 and 72 for a 1-over 215 total that left her in a tie for 11^th. Waller helped Penn State put up team rounds of 299, 293 and 298 for an 890 total as the Lions finished 13^th in the 18-team field.

   Rogowicz, a two-time District One champion and two-time PIAA runnerup at Pennsbury, had rounds of 76, 70 and 73 and finished tied for 27^th at 3-over 219. Basso, the PIAA Class AA champion as a sophomore, struggled with a pair of 76s in the first two rounds before firing a 3-under 69 in the final round that enabled her to move into a tie for 32^nd at 5-over 221.

   Rounding out the Penn State contingent were Ariana Coyle Diez, a sophomore from Ireland who finished tied for 85^th at 235 and Halley Morell, a senior from Brecksville, Ohio who finished 89^th at 245. Both signed for 84 in the final round.

   But the performance of her three freshmen had to be encouraging for St. Pierre, not just for the rest of the spring, but for the seasons to come.

   Florida, meanwhile, continued its impressive 2015-16 campaign by taking team honors at Briar’s Creek by 11 shots. It was the fifth team win of the season for the Gators, who had rounds of 293, a spectacular 8-under 280 in the middle round and 285 for a 6-under 858 total.

   Indiana finished second at 5-over 869, Clemson was another shot back in third at 870, East Carolina was fourth at 871 and Florida State and Kent State shared fifth place at 8-over 872. Kent State had the best final-round score in the field, a 4-under 284.

   The Gators were led by Samantha Wagner, a freshman from Windermere, Fla. who finished tied for fifth at 4-under 212, and Kelly Grassel, a junior from Chesterton, Ind. who finished tied for seventh at 3-under 213. Followers of the career of Radnor’s Walker might recall she was blitzed by a Wagner birdie binge in the opening round of match play at the 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.

   The individual crown went to East Carolina’s Frida Gustafsson Spang, a senior from Sweden. Spang had a final-round 68 to finish at 8-under 208, her third tournament title this season and sixth of her career. Florida State’s Margane Metraux, a sophomore from Switzerland, and Clemson’s Lauren    Stephenson, a freshman from Lexington, S.C. finished tied for second, a shot back of Spang. Metraux had a final-round 70 while Stephenson, who was leading after firing rounds of 69 and 68 in rounds 1 and 2, respectively, matched par in the final round with a 72.