Spotlight on sports: Golf opener Friday

After a fall season that included a first-place finish in the United East Fall Preview, Pennsylvania College of Technology golf coach Rob Lytle looks to use five spring outings to sharpen his team as it seeks to defend its regular-season-ending United East Championship and earn a second-straight trip to the NCAA Division III Championship.

The Wildcats open their season on Friday and Saturday in the Pennsylvania Classic, hosted by Penn State Altoona on the Penn State White and Blue courses.

“Spring practice has gone well so far. We have been fortunate to have some good spring weather to get on the course and be outside. The team has been working hard on all aspects of their games to prepare for the season,” Lytle said, entering his second full season.

Returning starters are juniors Peyton Mussina of Montoursville, Gavin Baer of Bainbridge, Will Orwig of Mifflintown, Trevor Keaton of Lansdale, and sophomore Gunner Redmond of Lock Haven.

A year ago, Mussina was named to the UE first team, Redmond and Orwig to the second team, Keaton to the all-sportsmanship team and Lytle was the UE Coach of the Year.

“Mussina is coming off a great fall season (he medaled three times and was second twice). He is never one to be satisfied, so he has put in a lot of hard work on his game over the winter. (The others) are equally working hard to improve over last fall,” Lytle said.

In six multi-team fall outings, the Wildcats finished twice, third three times and fourth once. All of that came after last spring’s season, which saw them win the United East Championship, Mussina place second, and finish 37th in an elite 43-team field representing the best of 304 D-III men’s teams from across the country.

“As a team, we need to be more consistent scoring-wise. All of us have one goal in mind, and that is to repeat as conference champions and make a return trip to the NCAA Division III Championship,” Lytle said.

“Freshman players Logan Gawlinski of Kittanning and Brett Keenan of Lafayette Hill have been working on their games and have made big gains since joining the program. We have a new player that has joined the team in the spring, Brady Handy of Cassville. Brady will be a good addition to the program,” the coach said.

“The spring schedule will be a good test for us leading into the conference championship. The Pennsylvania Classic, played at the Penn State golf courses, will be a good challenge. The field has been expanded this year with some really good competition,” Lytle continued. “A new addition to our spring schedule is the Northeast Shootout hosted by Swarthmore College. It is a 54-hole event played at the historic DuPont Country Club.

“Our entire spring schedule has us playing at some challenging courses. All of this will have us ready for the conference championship at Philmont Country Club. Philmont played extremely long and challenging in the fall.”

Schedule
Friday, March 29 — Pennsylvania Classic Day 1 at Penn State White Course, 1 p.m.
Saturday, March 30 — Pennsylvania Classic Day 2 at Penn State Blue Course, 11 a.m.
Thursday, April 4 — Elizabethtown College Spring Invitational at Hershey Country Club, 1 p.m.

For more about the United East, visit the conference website.
For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website.