Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) announced its fields for the WPIAL/UPMC Sports Medicine Girls’ Golf Individual Championships on Friday, with 46 student-athletes qualifying through section tournaments held on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
 
Student-athletes competed in four different sections in Class 3A and two different sections in Class 2A. Each section tournament had its own unique target score based on the golf course, with student-athletes needing to finish at or below that number to qualify for the WPIAL Championships. There are 29 schools that will be represented at the WPIAL Girls’ Golf Individual Championships.
 
Elizabeth Forward junior Mya Morgan returns as the reigning champion in Class 3A, while Eden Christian Academy junior Pearl Lundgren was the Class 2A runner-up last season. Class 3A has four golfers who previously qualified for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Girls’ Golf Individual Championships in their careers, and Class 2A returns three.
 
The Class 3A group of 29 qualifiers features 13 student-athletes who return to the WPIAL Championships for a second time. There are five golfers appearing in their third WPIAL Championships, and Peters Township senior Brooke Vowcheck is the lone student-athletes who is competing in her fourth.
 
The Class 2A field of 17 includes five student-athletes who previously qualified for the WPIAL Championships. Lundgren will be making her third WPIAL appearance, and Seton LaSalle senior Emily Obara has punched her WPIAL Championships ticket in all four of her varsity campaigns.
 
Class 3A had four student-athletes take home section medalist honors in North Allegheny junior Kayli Dings (Section I), Peters Township junior Ellie Benson (Section II), Morgan (Section III), and Fox Chapel sophomore Clara Koteski (Section IV), while Class 2A saw Chartiers-Houston freshman JoJo Jaskulski (Section I) and Shady Side Academy freshman Hannah Zhang (Section II) win section titles. Benson and Koteski are repeat section medalists from a season ago.
 
Last season, Morgan recorded a 36-hole total of 146 (+2) to claim the Class 3A title by 12 strokes over Benson, while Neshannock’s Sophia Covelli carded a 174 (+30) over two rounds to top Lundgren by a single stroke for gold in Class 2A.
 
The WPIAL/UPMC Sports Medicine Girls’ Golf Individual Championships are played in a two-round format. Both classifications will begin at Willowbrook Country Club on Monday, Sept. 23, and crown champions at Butler Country Club on Monday, Sept. 30. All golfers that compete in the first round will move onto their classification’s respective final rounds. The top seven finishers in Class 3A and top nine finishers in Class 2A will move onto the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Girls’ Golf Individual Championships, which will be held on Oct. 21-22 at Penn State Golf Courses.

CHAMPIONSHIP CAPSULE

Dates & Locations: Sept. 23 at Willowbrook Country Club (First Round), Sept. 30 at Butler Country Club (Final Round)

Amount of Qualifiers: 46 (29 in Class 3A, 17 in Class 2A)

Reigning Class 3A Champion: Mya Morgan, Elizabeth Forward – 146 (+2)

Reigning Class 2A Champion: Sophia Covelli, Neshannock – 174 (+30)

 

BY THE NUMBERS

• 1977: The first season that the WPIAL held a boys’ golf individual championship, which was won by Upper St. Clair’s Nancy Tomich.
• 27: The number of schools who have boasted at least one WPIAL girls’ golf individual champion.
• 18: The number of student-athletes in the 2024 fields that have previously qualified for the WPIAL Girls’ Golf Individual Championships.
• 14: The number of student-athletes who have won two or more WPIAL girls’ golf individual championships.
• 6: The number of WPIAL girls’ golf individual championships won by Upper St. Clair student-athletes, a league record. The Panthers won in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 2003, and 2004.
• 4: The number of WPIAL girls’ golf individual championships won by Hopewell’s Jodi Figley and Quaker Valley’s Eva Bulger. The duo shares the league record by sweeping gold in all four of their varsity seasons, with Figley winning from 1983 to 1986, and Bulger topping her competitors from 2019 to 2022.
• 1: The number of times since 1997 that a playoff was needed to determine the WPIAL girls’ golf individual champion. In 2019, North Allegheny’s Isabella Walter claimed the Class 3A title by winning in a playoff over Fox Chapel’s Nina Busch.

CLASS 3A SECTION CHAMPIONS
Section I: Kayli Dings (11), North Allegheny
Section II: Ellie Benson (11), Peters Township
Section III: Mya Morgan (11), Elizabeth Forward
Section IV: Clara Koteski (10), Fox Chapel
 
CLASS 2A SECTION CHAMPIONS
Section I: JoJo Jaskulski (9), Chartiers-Houston
Section II: Hannah Zhang (9), Shady Side Academy

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