Filia edges Denis for girls championship

LHAC Golf Meet

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Hollidaysburg senior Crosby Denis said she was generally happy with 71 of her 73 shots Wednesday at Scotch Valley Country Club during the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference high school girls golf championships.

Unfortunately, golf is one sport where a 97.2 percent success rate sometimes isn't good enough to win.

Denis just missed a good look at birdie on No. 18 that would have tied her with Westmont Hilltop's Gabby Filia for the individual lead, but two shots earlier in her round were the ones that haunted her.

"Literally, I think I had two bad shots today," Denis said. "It was my tee shot on No. 10 and then my tee shot on No. 17. It's just how golf is. Everyone deals with it, but it's definitely a lot different than tennis where you can miss a shot and it literally doesn't matter. In golf, it can really change your entire round."

Denis finished with a 1-over par 73, and Filia won the LHAC title with a 72. She also led the Lady Hilltoppers to the team title, 242-256, over the Lady Tigers.

Denis finished one stroke behind Filia, and Hollidaysburg's No. 2 player, Maliah Malausky tied Westmont's Josie Hill in a tie for fourth with scores of 85, but Westmont pulled away on the third and final score counted.

"Crosby and Maliah have been our solid one-two all season," Hollidaysburg coach Jill Hileman said. "Our players between three and six have all flip flopped all season. They have all gotten better, but it's been a toss-up of who has been our third scorer."

Denis and Malausky led Hollidaysburg to a District 6 Class 3A title and an appearance in the PIAA championships last year. The District 6 meet is next week.

"We're going to have to play similar to today to beat State College and Altoona," Hileman said. "When you have Crosby in the 70s and Maliah in the low 80s, that helps. We're just going to need our three-four-five girls to come in around the mid-90s."

Wednesday's round went longer than five hours -- even for the top group -- as Denis attempted to conserve energy for her District 6 Class 3A individual tennis championship match later in the afternoon.

"With having to balance golf and tennis, I think this has been the hardest year," Denis said. "In all four years, I think there's been more conflicts this year, but I think it's been pretty solid overall, especially with my 18-hole rounds. I have only played two, but I shot well at Sunnehanna and then was just 1-over par today. I'm pretty proud of those rounds."

Camilla Yost finished 13th in the 47-player field with a 98 to round out Hollidaysburg's scores that counted.

"There were a couple big numbers," Hileman said. "I heard a 15 and a 10. If we can avoid those big numbers, it will help. We have also focused on putting this season. We're trying to eliminate three and four-putts. When you see big scores like 100 or 110, it's not their whole game, it's just little things here and there, and we'll focus on those next week and see if we can improve those aspects."

TEAM RESULTS

1, Westmont Hilltop (WH) 242; 2, Hollidaysburg (H) 256.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (TOP 10)

1, Filia, WH, 72; 2, Denis, H, 73; 3, Dumm, Central Cambria, 84; T-4, Hill, WH, 85; T-4, Malausky, H, 85; T-7, Burns, Philipsburg-Osceola, 91; T-7, Bradley, Bishop Carroll, 91; T-9, Durbin, Penn Cambria, 92; T-9, Mesoras, Central Cambria, 92.