STATE COLLEGE — The 2024 Happy Valley Invitational Golf Tournament, sponsored by State College Area High School, took place on Thursday, Aug. 8, at the Penn State Blue and White golf facilities.
Over 220 high school golfers from across the state took part, and the event was divided into 11 competitions.
For a preseason event held before the actual matches are set to begin, the scores in every category were impressive.
In the 2A boys tournament, played on the Blue Course, Anthony La Boda from Fairview Boys fired a 6-under 66 to take top honors, while Alex Talmadge from West Shamokin was close behind with a 3-under 69.
Also under par were Connor Laird from Cathedral Prep at 1-under and Cooper Wierzchowski, also from Cathedral Prep, at 1-under.
On the White Course in 3A, Michael Chotiner from Central Dauphin came in at a 6-under 66, with Nathan Radwanski from Governor Mifflin right behind at a 4-under 68.
Sean McMahon from Spring Ford and Trent Samelko from Cumberland Valley shot 3-under 69s, and Brad McDermott from Radnor and Nolan Corcan from LaSalle College boys were at 1-under 71s.
State College’s Luke Ladrido came in with a 1-over 73 and his teammates, Brady Wager and Jacky Sun, both shot 3-over 75s.
In the 2A girls tournament on the Blue Course, Luciana Masters from Hickory shot 75, 3-over, to win first place, and she was followed by Cora Hirz from Fairview Girls at 77.
And Cailyn Schall from Jersey Shore shot a 3-under 69 to win the 3A girls tournament, with Ellie Benson second at even-par 72.
The 2A boys team tournament was taken by Cathedral Prep with a +13, 301, with Fairview, Clarion, West Shamokin and North East rounding out the top five teams.
In the 3A boys team tournament, LaSalle College took first place with an impressive 2-over 290, followed by Radnor, Spring Ford and Southern Lehigh.
The State College Boys 1 team took fifth place with a +12, 300. All four SC golfers — Luke Ladrido, Jacky Sun, Brady Wager and Devin Farahani — shot in the 70s, led by Ladrido’s 1-over 73.
In the girls 2A team tournament, Hickory was first, followed by Fairview, Cathedral Prep, Mercyhurst Prep and Hickory 2.
And in the 3A girls team tournament, Peters Township won by 21 strokes with a very strong +7, 223. Mt. St. Joseph’s was second, followed by McDowell, Radnor and Jersey Shore.
State College 2 boys won the 3A team tournament on Blue, while SC’s Charlie Ladrido took top honors with a 4-over 76.
Beside the State College teams, Philipsburg-Osceola and Bellefonte both sent teams to the event.
In the 2A boys, P-O finished 12th, two strokes behind Fort LeBoeuf. Jake Lucas led the P-O team with an 88.
In the 2A Girls, P-O finished 11th behind Oswayo Valley. Isabella Minarchick was the low girl scorer for P-O.
In the 3A boys, Bellefonte was led by Tanner Ebling and finished in 19th place.
The Happy Valley Invitational took place on Penn State University’s Blue and White Golf Courses. The 2A girls and boys played on the Blue Course, while the 3A girls and boys played on the White Course. Both groups teed off in a shotgun format, with the 2A players going off at 10 a.m. and the 3A players at 11:30 a.m.
