Boardman girls win Division I sectional

Staff report

Boardman’s girls golf team picked up where it left off in 2015. The Spartans turned a league title into a sectional title again, shooting 330 to win the Division I tournament at Tamer Win Golf & Country Club on Monday.

The Spartans were 13 strokes lower than runner-up Chardon.

“This is back-to-back years of winning sectionals so we’re very excited,” junior Jenna Vivo said.

Vivo medaled, shooting 72 and beating senior teammate Jacinta Pikunas by two strokes. Coach Brian Terlesky said the team’s performance was right around last year’s level of play. The Spartans (20-0) shot 328 at this part of the postseason in 2015. He’s looked at the numbers going into district play and isn’t giving his team any slack.

“[In districts] we came in 10th overall last year and they take the top five. Places five through 11 were separated by six strokes,” Terlesky said. “Next week at districts, every stroke is crucial. Northeast Ohio is a meat grinder for girls golf. There’s so many good girls out there.”

In team play, Vivo and Pikunas are in the driver’s seat. When one defeats the other, they take it in stride.

“It’s more that we’re rooting for each other, I don’t believe in competing too much against your teammates,” Pikunas said. “We have a good support system, she shot the low today and I was so proud of her. She did well and there are times when I do well and she’s proud of me. We don’t put each other down.”

Pikunas earned a trip to Columbus last year and finished as the state runner-up. She hasn’t looked back at that trip.

“I don’t worry about the future and how it will play out and I don’t really reflect on the past,” Pikunas said. “I have to concentrate on what I can do best.”

The non-Boardman locals to qualify for districts were Canfield’s Gillian Cerimele (77) who took third and Hannah Keffler (84), who finished in sixth.

BOYS GOLF

There’s no wrong answer to the following question:

Which golfer on Boardman’s team has the best chance to qualify as an individual for state?

There’s sophomore Brian Terlesky, who shot a 67 to win the Cardinal Mooney Invitational earlier this season. Fellow sophomore Cole Christman beat Terlesky in a playoff at the Ursuline Invitational. Junior Cade Kreps, The Vindicator’s Greatest Golfer of the Valley junior champion, beat both of the aforementioned golfers in the AAC Championship.

Boardman (14-0) has an embarrassment of riches for talent heading into today’s Division I sectional at Tannenhauf Golf Club in Alliance.

“Our strength is our one through five,” Boardman coach Ron Moschella said. “If we can all shoot in the 70s we have a good chance of making it.”

Rounding out the fab five are juniors Bobby Jonda and Bryan Kordupel. The coach said his players compete with each other with as much intensity as they do other teams.

“Sometimes it gets heated. Sometimes it looks like the Ryder Cup,” Moschella said. “Then we’re playing other teams and it carries over. That competitiveness makes them better.”

The Spartans come into sectionals this year the same way they did last year — undefeated. It’s no big deal for Moschella to have no seniors in his top five.

“They’ve been playing a lot. Last year they were sophomores and they qualified for state,” Moschella said. “Now they’re juniors and hopefully, they can qualify for state. We’re going to keep working at it.”

Other local teams in the field include Austintown Fitch, Canfield, Niles, Poland and Warren Harding.