WPIAL golfers invited to national high school tournament

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, June 18, 2019 | 8:29 PM

Several of the top WPIAL golfers from the fall 2018 season will compete at the National High School Golf Association’s inaugural High School Golf National Invitational on June 27-28 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The boys and girls fields for the invitation-only tournament were released Tuesday. North Catholic rising senior Maddie Smithco, the 2018 WPIAL and PIAA Class AA individual champion, will test her mettle, along with 96 other top high school girls golfers from throughout the country.

Recent graduates Jessica Meyers from Oakland Catholic and Kiara Porter from Central Valley also are in the field.

Porter placed fourth at the Class AA state tournament in York, while Meyers took third at WPIALs and tied for fifth at states in Class AAA.

The Central Catholic boys team, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA champion, will be in action. Representing the Vikings in the field of 188 are graduates Neal Shipley, Tyler Blake, Shane Kelley and Jimmy Meyers and rising senior Palmer Cuny.

Meyers, a Penn State commit, also was the WPIAL Class AAA individual champion and state runner-up to Franklin Regional’s Palmer Jackson.

Both the boys and girls events feature 36 holes of stroke play over two days with team and individual competitions.

The boys and girls individual medalists will receive exemptions into the 2019 Junior PGA Championships. The girls event is July 9-12, and the boys tournament is July 30-Aug. 2.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Central Catholic, Central Valley, North Catholic, Oakland Catholic