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Boardman’s Pikunas, Vivo set for Columbus
By STEVE WILAJ
BOARDMAN
Jacinta Pikunas has been telling Jenna Vivo all about Ohio State’s Gray Golf Course since last Wednesday: the greens are as fast — really fast — the rough is thick and, in general, it’s “one of the toughest courses of all the state colleges nationwide.”
The Boardman junior isn’t trying to scare her sophomore teammate Vivo.
Pikunas — who is making her third trip to Columbus — is just trying to help the first-timer for when the two Spartans compete in individual competition at the Division I state tournament Friday and Saturday.
“We’ve been practicing this whole season together,” Pikunas said. “I’ve been telling her little things about the course — like where you want to place it on this hole or kind of just trying to give her a feel for this course. I think she’ll be fine.”
The girls were both good in district competition last Wednesday at The Legends of Massillon course, as Vivo shot a 73 Pikunas had a 74 to qualify for state. While Pikunas also competed in Columbus for the past two years as a freshman and sophomore, she’s looking forward to sharing the experience with a teammate this time.
“I’m really excited how our boys team made it out and Jenna, I’m glad she made it out, too,” Pikunas said. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”
That “fun” aspect is another piece of advice Pikunas made sure to give Vivo.
“She said that it’s such a great accomplishment to make it this far,” Vivo said. “I still need to compete, but try to have fun, too, because it’s state.”
Not that the girls aren’t focused on playing well.
Since clinching their trips to Columbus, the girls have been practicing at The Lake Club in Youngstown and the Tippecanoe Country Club in Canfield. Those rounds — coupled with their strong district performances — have both golfers feeling confident heading into the weekend.
“I’ve been working pretty hard this past season, so I think I should be fine even though it’s a challenging course,” Vivo said. “It all depends on everything — you have good and bad days — but I expect myself to do pretty well.”
Pikunas said: “I’m feeling pretty confident about everything. I know the greens are gonna be fast, so I’ve been getting some good practice in at The Lake Club and Tippecanoe — they’ve been so generous in letting me use their greens.”
Pikunas shot a 76 on the first day at last year’s state tournament. She then took an 83 on the second day to finish with a 159, which placed her sixth out of 12. While she’s trying to give Vivo all the help she can, the veteran state qualifier is also hoping to use those experiences experience to her advantage.
“The more you play that course, the better chance you have of doing well on it, because, to be honest with you, it’s one of the toughest courses,” Pikunas said. “I want to do well, but I think I’ll be happy with myself regardless of where I place if I can just focus on each and every shot and know I put 100 percent into each round.”