Wrigley doubles pleasure
Wins 3A title, puts up career-best 67
Caroline Wrigley and Lauren Freyvogel were within one shot of each other after nine holes.
Then, Wrigley birdied the 10th hole and Freyvogel bogeyed it.
That gave Wrigley some breathing room, and the North Allegheny junior went on to shoot a 5-under 67 to repeat as WPIAL Class 3A girls golf individual champion Wednesday at Diamond Run Golf Club in Sewickley. Pine-Richland’s Freyvogel shot a 71 and finished second.
Wrigley, a Furman recruit, felt confident entering the championship and left with a personal-best 67, though she said she has shot plenty of 68s. Her 5 under marks the lowest in relation to par in 20 years at a WPIAL girls golf championship.
“I felt pretty good about my game coming into today,” Wrigley said. “I’ve been hitting it really well, and today my short game just really came together and I made a ton of putts, which really helped. So my game was really solid today.”
While Wrigley was happy to repeat as champion, her biggest goals still lie ahead. After winning the WPIAL tournament last year, Wrigley had an off day in the Western regionals, shooting an 81 and failing to qualify for the state championship. Western regionals is the next step for seven qualifying golfers from 3A and eight from 2A.
“I haven’t played this well in six months, so it feels really good to be able to do that,” Wrigley said. “I knew I was capable of it, I just didn’t know it’d happen today.
“Honestly, I really kind of played conservative today. I just wanted to kind of make it through the qualifier, but a lot of putts sunk for me, so that worked out.”
After a slow regular season, North Allegheny coach Mike Hambrick was just waiting for Wrigley to have a breakthrough day, which fortunately aligned with the beginning of the postseason.
Wrigley didn’t make a bogey until the 18th hole, when she missed a 5-footer.
“She’s just that good,” Hambrick said. “She’s really played underneath her talent all year, not because of effort but just because things haven’t jelled at the right time. She was due for a day like this. If she had a day like this on our course, she probably would have shot 66 and broken the record.”
The other qualifiers from 3A were Freyvogel, North Allegheny’s Christina Lewis (77), Oakland Catholic’s Jessica Meyers (78), Uniontown’s Danae Rugola (79), Mars’ Natalie Welsh (81) and North Allegheny’s Esha Vaidya (82).
Class 2A
Around 3 p.m., Tatum McKelvey let herself relax for the first time since teeing off early Wednesday. The Sewickley Academy junior had just become the 2A girls golf individual champion after shooting an 81.
“I finally caught my breath,” McKelvey said. “I haven’t caught my breath since 9:30 a.m.”
McKelvey was 4 over on the front nine knowing the back nine would be much more challenging. She was 2 over heading into No. 15 before she hit another bump on the way to her win.
“I did hit a hiccup, which was hole 15,” McKelvey said. “I tripled. I just was not focused in my head. I was thinking about the small lead I had and, after that, I just had to grind through the last four holes, because those are definitely the hardest on the course.”
The win isn’t the end game for McKelvey, who heads next to the Western regionals along with seven other golfers from 2A.
There was a tie between Central Valley’s Kiaria Porter and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic’s Maddie Smithco (82) for second. Other qualifiers were Greensburg Central Catholic’s Abby Zambruno (84) and Kaylene Chavez (88), Aquinas Academy’s Leelah Ohayan (90), Brownsville’s Lindsay Sethman (91) and Hopewell’s Joei Rittmiller (92).