Conestoga senior Jill Burks has carved out a nice little scholastic career for herself.
Overshadowed a little in District One by Phoenixville’s Roberts sisters, Kate and Kayley, and Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s Rhianna Gooneratne, Burks still arrived at a windy Turtle Creek Golf Course for Monday’s opening round of the District Class AAA Championship bidding for a fourth straight trip to the state tournament.
There aren’t a lot of them out there, the four-time state qualifiers. It takes consistency and focus and desire.
Burks has all of those and Tuesday, back at Turtle, she’ll take a four-shot lead over the field going into the final round of the Class AAA district championship after she battled Monday’s winds better than anybody while matching par at the Turtle with a 72.
But individual accolades are just part of the Jill Burks story at Conestoga.
Her even-par 72 at Turtle Creek Monday also led the Pioneers to a second straight District One Class AAA team crown.
After securing the district team crown a year ago, Burks led Conestoga to the PIAA Class AAA team title and, if its 13-shot victory over Mount St. Joseph Academy Monday is any indication, the Pioneers will be a contender for a second straight state crown at Penn State in two weeks.
District One flipped the script a little for the championship this year. In recent years, the girls had played their opening round up Ridge Pike a few miles at Raven’s Claw Golf Club and, following a cut, the top individuals would head over to Turtle for Round 2.
This year, the girls played their opening round at Turtle Creek and they’ll be back at Turtle Tuesday for the second round with berths to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at stake.
The boys played Raven’s Claw in the opening round Monday with the top individuals there joining the girls for Round 2 Tuesday at Turtle Creek.
The wind was certainly blowing where I was caddying at Stonewall, not all that far from Turtle Creek, Monday and I’m sure it was blowing pretty good at Turtle.
Starting off the second tee, Burks, who plays out of White Manor Country Club, made a birdie at the sixth hole, a bogey at seven and another birdie at the tough par-3 ninth.
Burks stumbled a little with a bogey at the par-3 11th hole and a double bogey at the short, par-4 12th.
She quickly righted the ship with a birdie at the par-5 13th hole, but gave a shot back at 14 to fall back to 2-over for the round. Burks, however, made clutch back-to-back birdies at the 16th and 17th holes to finish at even-par for her round.
Burks’ closest pursuers were her Central League rival, Megan Choi, a junior at Harriton, and Perkiomen Valley senior Saloni Patel, both of whom posted a 4-over 76 that left them four shots behind Burks.
Choi has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of the last two falls. She’s in good position to make it to the state tournament for a third straight time. Patel is also hoping to book a return engagement to Penn State for the state tournament.
Avon Grove junior Kiera Post was another two shots behind Choi and Patel in fifth place following an opening round of 6-over 78 and Council Rock North sophomore Noor Mehta was another two shots behind Post in fifth after tallying an 80.
Post is the daughter of Patty Post, the director of golf programs at Delaware, and Brendon Post, who coaches the men’s team at Delaware. Kiera Post was the medalist in last week’s Ches-Mont League Championship at Wyncote Golf Club.
Burks’ Conestoga teammate Corinne McReynolds, also a senior, and Bishop Shanahan senior Emma Bergey each signed for an 83 and were tied for sixth place.
McReynolds bested Burks and Choi to claim medalist honors in the Central League Championship last week with a solid 2-over 74. McReynolds, who plays out of Whitford Country Club, was a counter for Conestoga in its PIAA Class AAA team championship a year ago and backed up Burks Monday as the Pioneers repeated as the District One team champion.
Downingtown East sophomore Rebecca Santosa was in eighth place after recording an 85 and the Mount St. Joseph pair of Annie Corrigan, a junior, and Gemma Holt, a sophomore, North Penn junior Gigi Gratz and Methacton senior Lauren Springman rounded out the top 10 following the opening round of the district tournament as they finished in a tie for ninth, each registering an 85.
Conestoga junior Kat Shrum was the final counter for the Pioneers with an 89, which gave them a 28-over 244 total in the five-score-three format.
Rounding out the Conestoga lineup were junior Journey Holt with a 92 and junior Lanna Chanthakad with a 96.
Mount St. Joe’s, a perennial District One power, earned runnerup honors in the team standings with a 257 total. Pretty sure the Mount is still in line for a spot in the field in the state team tournament as the District One runnerup.
Downingtown East was two shots behind Mount St. Joseph in third place with a 259 total. Methacton took fourth place with a 292 total, Great Valley was fifth with a 293 total and Spring-Ford rounded out the field in the District One team chase in sixth at 299.
Over at Raven’s Claw, West Chester Henderson senior Charlie Isner and Pennsbury freshman Ben Revness each matched par with a 71 as they shared the lead following the opening round of the District One Class AAA Championship.
It is going to be a wild shootout for district honors and for the berths to the PIAA Class AAA Championship that will be up for grabs as the boys tee it up Tuesday at Turtle Creek. Only three shots separate the top 12 players following Monday’s opening round at Raven’s Claw.
Starting off the seventh tee at Raven’s Claw, Isler made a bogey. Birdies at the 10th and 13th holes got Isler into red figures at 1-under. Isler made a bogey at the 14th hole, a birdie at 15 and a bogey at 17 that left him at 1-over for his round.
A birdie at the fourth hole enabled Isler to get back to even-par and into a share of the lead with Revness.
Starting off the ninth tee, Revness made a bogey at the 10th hole, but quickly responded with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12.
After a bogey at the 14th hole dropped Revness back to even-par for his round, he quickly got it to 2-under with an eagle at Raven’s Claw gettable par-5 first.
Back-to-back bogeys at the third and fourth holes dropped Revness back to even-par for his round. A birdie at the fifth hole got him back to 1-under, but he dropped a shot with a bogey at seven to fall into a tie with Isler.
Methacton senior Sebastian Park and Souderton senior Wyatt Underwood were a shot behind the co-leaders in a tie for third place as each carded a 1-over 72.
The only Central League player in the top 10 was Harriton freshman Thomas Airoldi, who landed in an eight-man logjam tied for fifth place at 3-over 74.
Unionville senior Matt McGinnity, the medalist in last week’s Ches-Mont League Championship at Wyncote, was also in the group at 3-over.
Rounding out that gang of eight tied at 3-over were North Penn senior Kevin Toussaint, West Chester East freshman Ben Lear, Spring-Ford senior Michael Gravinese, Downingtown East senior Chase Riley, Pope John Paul II senior Ryan Kelly, and Souderton sophomore Danny Ross.
In the District One Class AA chase, a couple of sophomores, Joey Chachkin of Jenkintown and Corvin Bridge of New Hope Solebury shared the lead after each opened with a 6-over 77.
Chachkin offset five bogeys and a double bogey with a birdie at the first hole. Bridge made birdies at the fifth and eighth holes and had eight bogeys on his scorecard.
A couple of Plumstead Christian freshmen, James Gannon and Kody McKeon, were in third and fourth place, respectively, as Gannon was four shots behind the co-leaders with an 81 and McKeon signed for an 85.
The Class AAA team crown will also be decided Tuesday.
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