Here are the Centre County golfers who will compete at the PIAA state championships
A number of Centre County golfers will take their talents to York this week, where they will compete in the PIAA golf state championships at Heritage Hills Golf Resort.
The PIAA golf state championships begin on Monday with AA individuals competing in an 18-hole competition. AAA individuals will compete on Tuesday. Team championships for both AA and AAA will take place on Oct. 25.
Below is a closer look at each Centre County athlete competing as an individual, as well as the team competing in the PIAA golf state championships.
Boys Individuals
John Olsen, State College (AAA)
Olsen won the District 6 Class 3A championship on Sept. 28 at Scotch Valley Country Club by shooting a low score of 74. It was his third straight individual gold medal.
Not only does Olsen excel at golf, he doubles as a goalie for State College’s ice hockey team. It’s a goalie’s mentality that has allowed him to stay focused on the course.
“You let up a goal, you’ve got to forget about it and move it to the past,” Olsen said. “It’s the same with golf. If you hit a bad shot — just forget about it and go to the next one. It’s really helped me out. Hockey has really helped me out more than golf with that mentality. You just have to forget about things and kind of just play your game.”
The senior golfer has played golf since the age of “3 or 4,” playing with family members and not necessarily playing competitively until he was 10. He first caught the attention of his future coach, Greg Wilson, as a student at Mount Nittany Middle School.
“We went to Champion Lakes and played this invitational and I invited him along as an eighth grader. And I said, ‘Why don’t you come and play with some of my other juniors and sophomores and give us a fourth?’ He came and he ended up taking second in the tournament and being our medalist of the team as an eighth grader,” Wilson said. “Just from there and every year, I think John would’ve won districts his freshman year, he just had a couple of bad holes to close — just being young — and he comes up short by missing a couple of shots.”
Tim Peters, Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy (AA)
Peters won the District 6 Class 2A championship on Sept. 28 at Scotch Valley Country Club, shooting a low score of 75 to defeat Bishop McCort’s Lukas Cascino. Cascino came in second with low score of 76. Peters began his season shooting a 72 (par) to tie for second out of more than 80 golfers entered in the Happy Valley Invitational on Aug. 19.
The junior golfer attributes his success to his mental preparation and readiness to conquer any challenge ahead of him.
“That’s one of the things that my coaches have worked on with me is not being so hard on yourself if you make that double bogey or make that bogey that’ll take you out of the lead,” Peters said. “It’s just a persistent thing knowing that there’s always another shot. That’s the nice thing about golf is that each hole is different and there are 18 different battles that you have to go through and they’re all so fun when you make it your best shot.”
Saint Joseph’s head coach Chad Walsh had an inkling that Peters would be great from the beginning of his school career, even though Peters hadn’t played golf until the summer before his freshman year. The young golfer had the work ethic to become a stronger player, starting with going to the course each day to perfect his craft.
It’s a practice that Peters continues to this day.
“He’s been talking about winning a state title since that first year,” Walsh said. “It’s been pretty cool, especially this year, it’s beginning to culminate this year and he’s having the success that he’s wanted. He went through some growing pains, but he always showed that he was more advanced than what he should’ve been. ... Now, two years later, he’s out here and putting up these amazing scores and he deserves every bit of it because he just grinds nonstop. He eats, sleeps and breathes golf.”
Girls Individuals
Riley Clute, Bellefonte (AAA)
Clute won the District 6 Class 3A championship on Sept. 30 at Windber Country Club by shooting a low score of 89. It was her best performance of the year, coming in timely fashion. The senior golfer has had to wade through the ups and downs of the 2020 pandemic year and having less time to prepare coming into the season.
Still, she was able to make Bellefonte school history as the first person, male or female, to win a golf state championship.
“It’s been an interesting year, especially with COVID and my senior year,” Clute said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more just to play the sport that I love and the team that I love. Going into districts, I wasn’t as confident as I would’ve liked to be. But when I got out there, I started to play with the girls that I knew and I started to feel more comfortable and I’m super excited to (reach my) personal best.”
According to head coach Jayme Zimmerman, Clute had a number of personal setbacks this season. But she was able to continue pushing and made a mark on the team with her drive.
“We’ve only ever had one kid that went to states before,” Zimmerman said. “She’s making some school history and representing her town very well. We’re very proud of her. Her performance (in districts) was awesome. She shot her personal best in competition, never broke 90 before. That was pretty exciting and I was walking across the street freaking out and having a little anxiety moment myself. I couldn’t ask for anything better to finish her season.”
Boys Team
State College boys
Olsen and his team are headed to the PIAA Team Championships following their fourth consecutive District 6 Class 3A boys’ team championship. The boys team won the team title with a 321 to advance to states on Oct. 24 in York. It’s the team’s fourth consecutive District 6 Class 3A boys’ championship in a row under Wilson.
“It’s the first time since State College went to a different division that a State High team has qualified for states,” Wilson said. “Individually, we’ve had a few, but this is the first time a team has gone. It was awesome. The guys over the last few years, we’ve been getting closer, but we just couldn’t seem to get past the Western Regionals. This year, they went in with the right mindset and just really dominated it. So, it was nice to see.”
