By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
GREENFIELD TWP. – Outside of the high school season, it’s not uncommon to find Nick Werner playing with Lake-Lehman standouts Michael Lugiano and brothers Eli and Cael Ropietski at Huntsville Golf Club.
They will be at the same course again Oct. 17-18 at Penn State after Wyoming Seminary sophomore Werner won the District 2 Class 2A boys golf individual title and Lake-Lehman players grabbed four of the six available state tournament berths with their Oct. 3 performance at Elkview Country Club.
Charlie Weidner continued his late-season improvement by landing the other Black Knights spot.
Lackawanna Trail’s Gavin June earned his second straight Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Championships appearance when he joined Eli Ropietski in making it through a three-way playoff for the last two spots.
Before Lake-Lehman players go after a state team title Wednesday, they will go against each other and their fellow Huntsville member as part of the individual tournament field.
“The Wyoming Valley’s got a great chance,” Lake-Lehman coach Tom Yoniski said. “Between the kids on our team and Nick Werner, I think there’s a chance somebody brings home a state title, not just a state medal.”
Werner already has a state medal. He placed sixth as a freshman last year when the tournament was held at Heritage Hills Golf Resort near York.
Lugiano did not play because, after winning the 2021 District 2 title, he passed up his state high school berth to head to North Myrtle Beach, S.C. where he won the Boys 14-15 Division at the Grand Final of the Sir Nick Faldo/Hurricane Series. This year, he’ll take his shot among the best high school players in Pennsylvania.
Werner and Lugiano led the way during the district tournament that determined state qualifiers.
On a day when all the other players – Class 3A and 2A, boys and girls – were over par, Werner broke par with a 70 and Lugiano finished second by matching it with a 72.
Werner ran off three straight birdies from 11 through 13 to take the title.
“Early in the round, the main thing that I was doing well was keeping the ball in play,” said Werner, who finished with five birdies and three bogeys. “Those starting six or seven holes are really tough to do that.
“I was glad to keep the ball in play and hit some good second shots, too.”
Werner made his move starting at the 334-yard, 11th when he got up and down from 10 feet after driving into a green-side bunker.
“At that point, I was in a groove there,” Werner said.
Werner put his 6-iron tee shot with three feet on 12, made another 10-footer on 13. He closed out the win with four pars and a bogey.
“I knew my competitors were going to be good as usual,” Werner said. “I worked on my game, tried to stay focused on what I was doing and it ended up working out in the end.”
Lugiano, who matched Werner in playing the back side in 2-under, had six birdies on the day.
Cael Ropietski had the day’s best nine-hole score, a 33 on the back, to finish third with a 73.
Weidner was alone in fourth with a 77.
June straightened some problems with his driver at the range between the round and the start of the playoff, then used a big drive to birdie the first playoff hole.
Ropietski’s birdie on the second hole eliminated Mid Valley’s Eddie Kaufman, who had won two earlier tournaments at Elkview this season.
Riverside’s Mike Maslanka, the only other player to break 80, was eighth with a 79.
MORE COVERAGE
Full scoreboard: District 2 individual golf championship scores – NEPA Sports Nation.
Boys photo gallery: District 2 Boys Golf photo gallery – NEPA Sports Nation.
Girls photo gallery: District 2 Girls Golf photo gallery – NEPA Sports Nation.
Class 3A boys story: ‘Paupack’s Wortmann takes title – NEPA Sports Nation.
