Pikunas, Terlesky stumble to finish19th at state

October 19, 2014 at 12:08a.m.

The good news for Boardman golfers Jacinta Pikunas and Brian Terlesky is this year won’t be their last chance at a Division I state golf title.

The bad news is it might take a while to get over this weekend’s outcome.

Pikunas had a triple bogey on the par 3 second hole at the Ohio State Gray Course on Saturday, leading to a round of 83 and a 19th place finish in the girls tournament.

Terlesky’s second round was at the Ohio State Scarlet Course, where he too struggled on the front nine and finish with a round of 82.

“Honestly, it’s a crazy game,” Pikunas said. “It’s so up and down. I’m just going to work on my form gearing up toward next season.”

Following the triple bogey, Pikunas managed to settle her game down but couldn’t rally. She finished with nine pars in her second round, after getting four birdies on Friday.

Her two day total was 159.

“I just couldn’t put anything together,” she said. “My swing wasn’t on point and my game just wasn’t there.

A sophomore, Pikunas should have another opportunity to redeem herself in Columbus. She finished in a tie for 12th in last year’s state tournament.

With that type of result as a freshman, she was hoping to improve upon her score.

“No, I didn’t feel too much pressure or anything like that,” she said. “I wasn’t going to let anything change my game. My swing was just off.”

While Terlesky managed to improve his final ranking — a tie for 19th — after Friday’s first round, he didn’t like much of anything about his game as a whole this weekend.

“I’m not happy with it at all,” Terlesky said. “I thought my game was good coming in, but it just didn’t turn out that way.”

The Boardman freshman said this was only his third time playing the Scarlet Course and he’ll definitely take a lot from the experience. He also felt the length of the course really started to play a factor on the second day.

“I’ll have a better feel for the pin placements and the speed of the greens,” he said. “I also want to get a little stronger and hopefully a little bigger as I get older.”

Despite the length, Terlesky did close well with a 38 on the back nine including a birdie.

His two day score was 163.

“I thought I was putting pretty well, but the greens were tough,” he said. “And usually the best putter wins.”