Boyd, Fanelli are the respective boys, girls medalists in Central League Championship at Turtle Creek

 

   LIMERICK – Radnor seniors Lannon Boyd and Elayna Fanelli are, to use an expression from a bygone era, an item.

   Which makes what transpired in the Central League Championship Monday at Turtle Creek Golf Course, to use Elayna Fanelli’s words, “pretty special.”

   Boyd and Elayna Fanelli, clubmates at Overbrook Golf Club, claimed medalist honors among the boys and girls, respectively, and pretty easily. And that’s quite a feat in a Central League that has as much talent as any in District One.

   It was a similar story two years ago when Boyd, then a sophomore, shared medalist honors at the Turtle while Elayna Fanelli finished atop the leaderboard on the girls side as a sophomore.

   Boyd put together a sparkling 4-under 68 over a 6,375-yard, par-72 Turtle Creek layout as we squeezed out another summerlike day in defiance of a calendar that says that summer is over.

   “I just think this course is so much fun to play,” Boyd said. “It was in great shape and the greens were rolling pretty good.”

   The tall left-hander, who has made a verbal commitment to join the program at Saint Joseph’s next summer, didn’t have a bogey on his card and was 5-under for his round going to the Turtle’s risk-reward par-5 18^th hole.

   With the wind in the players’ face on the 18^th hole, though, nobody was really trying to reach the green, guarded by a pond in front of it, at the 552-yard, par-5 finisher in two Monday.

   After laying up, Boyd’s approach spilled into a grass bunker right of the pin. He was unable to get it up and down and made his first bogey of the day to finish at 4-under.

   Boyd’s round got off to a good start when he knocked a 52-degree wedge to six feet at the par-3 third hole and converted the birdie putt and then hit a wedge to two feet at the par-4 fourth and made that short birdie try.

   Boyd was just short of the par-5 eighth hole in two and chipped it close for another birdie. He nearly drove the green at the short par-4 12^th hole and again got it up and down for birdie.

   I caught up to Boyd's group in time to see him effortlessly send a 5-iron onto the green at the par-5 13^th hole and two-putt from 45 feet for his fifth birdie of the day.

   Boyd will be back at the Turtle in two weeks for the District One Class AAA Championship. He will be trying to fill in a void on his high school golf resume by earning a trip to the state tournament.

   “I was 4-over after the opening round last year and just didn’t play well the second day,” Boyd said. “It is my one and only goal for this year, to make it to states.”

   Boyd will also be leading a Radnor team in Day 2 of the District One Championship as the Raptors pursue a Class AAA team crown that could send the whole team to states. Radnor can complete an undefeated run through the Central League with a victory over Upper Darby Tuesday.

   Boyd’s closest pursuer was Conestoga sophomore Will Johnson, who settled for a runnerup finish with a 1-under 71.

   No Central League golfer had a better postseason than Will Johnson did as a freshman a year ago. He was the medalist in the Central League Championship, finished in second place in the District One Class AAA Championship and his tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State’s White Course was the best finish for a District One player at states.

   Will Johnson claimed the club championship at White Manor Country Club this summer.

   The main focus of the Central League Championship is as a qualifier for the District One Class AAA Championship. The Central League is usually allotted 21 spots to districts.

   Holy Ghost Prep is unaffiliated and uses the Central League qualifier as a vehicle to get its players to districts.

   The Golf Association of Philadelphia did live scoring from Turtle Creek Monday, a first in my memory. For my purposes, I displaced the Holy Ghost kids from the Central League individual results if you notice any discrepancies from what I’m reporting and what’s on the GAP website.

   Harriton’s Carson Deringer finished alone in third place among the Central League players with a 1-over 73.

   Radnor senior Brad McDermott, Lower Merion senior Seiji Sako, who was in the group with Boyd, and a couple of talented freshmen, Henry Sokol of Harriton and William Quartermain of Haverford finished in a tie for fourth place, each signing for a 2-over 74.

   McDermott was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore two years ago and Sako will be bidding for a third straight trip to the state tournament when he tees it up back at the Turtle in two weeks.

   Haverford’s Charlie Robinson and Radnor’s Sean Mutshler each posted a 3-over 75 and finished in a tie for eighth place.

   Ridley’s Declan Conner, another player who was in the group with Boyd and Sako, Conestoga’s Chris Sung, the Penncrest duo of Keane Naugle and Adrian Ciavarelli, and Garnet Valley’s Jack Ferm were part of a large group tied for 10^th place, each tallying a 4-over 76.

   The Strath Haven duo of Luca Kleinschmidt and Eddie Gebhardt each recorded a 5-over 77 and finished in a tie for 16^th place, enabling them to avoid being involved in the playoff for the final four berths to the district tournament.

   Six players vied for those coveted final four tickets to districts with Haverford’s Bryce Ciochetto, Conestoga’s Joon Wee, Harriton’s Jack Sokol, the twin brother of Henry Sokol, and Radnor’s Gavin Reger surviving the playoff to earn a spot in the districts back at the Turtle in two weeks.

   Ciochetto and Jack Sokol, playing in the first threesome in the six-man playoff, both converted nice up-and-downs for par after missing the green at the tough par-3 ninth hole to the right.

   Conestoga’s Will Kenney and Carter Johnson failed to advance out of the playoff.

   Meanwhile, Elayna Fanelli, starting on the par-4 16^th hole, made a birdie there and it turned out to be her only birdie of the day.

   But like her boyfriend Boyd, Elayna Fanelli feels right at home at the Turtle, which played 5,131 yards for the girls. She made bogeys at the sixth and eighth holes and made pars at the rest, 15 in all, to defeat Conestoga junior Jill Burks by three shots.

   “I was just very consistent,” said Elayna Fanelli, one of the many students of Golf Digest Top 50 instructor John Dunigan. “I like this course. And I know this course very well.”

   The District One Class AAA Championship for the girls will tee off Oct. 13 up Ridge Pike from Turtle Creek at Raven’s Claw Golf Club before concluding back at the Turtle the next day. Elayna Fanelli will be bidding for a third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at districts.

   Burks, another player who counts Dunigan as a swing instructor, was the runnerup with a 4-over 76. Burks, like Will Johnson, a member at White Manor, was the medalist in the Central League Championship a year ago and reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship for the second straight time by finishing in a tie for third place at districts.

   “Another top-three finish at districts again would be nice,” said Burks, winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship last month at Trenton Country Club.

   Elayna Fanelli and Burks played in the same group, but Elayna Fanelli didn’t fall into the trap of playing her opponent, preferring to concentrate on what she was doing.

   “Jill is a very good player, but I had to focus on my own game,” Elayna Fanelli said. “I couldn’t worry about what anyone else was doing.”

   Burks and Conestoga figure to be contenders for the District One Class AAA girls team title, which will be decided on Day 1 at Raven’s Claw Oct. 13.

   The Pioneers captured the district title two years ago when Burks was a freshman. Last year, Conestoga was the runnerup to Downingtown West, but was awarded a wild-card berth in the Class AAA state team tournament.

   Pretty sure the standard for qualifying for districts in the Central League Championship for the girls is just to break 100. There were 13 girls who met that standard Monday, eight of them from Conestoga.

   A ninth Conestoga player, Journey Holt, finished in 14^th place with a 102. The results from GAP didn’t indicate that she had failed to make the cut, so we’ll see.

   It was a strong showing for the Pioneers as Burks led seven Conestoga players who finished among the top 10 in the individual standings.

   Sophomore Nicolette Bottos finished two shots behind her teammate Burks in third place with a 6-over 78.

   Harriton’s Megan Choi, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman a year ago, took fourth place with an 81.

   Conestoga accounted for the next four spots in the individual standings with junior Corinne McReynolds taking fifth place with an 84, Kat Shrum in sixth with an 86 and senior Suri Ahn and Lanta Chanthakad tied for seventh, each landing on 89.

   Burks, Bottos, McReynolds and Ahn were all in the lineup for the PIAA Class AAA team competition at Penn State a year ago, the Pioneers finishing in fourth place, a shot behind their District One rival Downingtown West.

   Another member of Conestoga’s Team Chanthakad, Lanna Chanthakad, Radnor’s Sara Fanelli, pretty sure she’s Elayna’s younger sister, and Springfield’s Delaney Kearney finished in a tie for ninth place, each registering a 92.

   Radnor’s Bea Mackenzie took12^th place with a 93, Conestoga’s Alex Myers was 13^th with a 94 and Holt rounded out the girls field, finishing 14^th with a 102.