Aug 28, 2018 4 min read

Dave Briggs has a dilemma.

It’s not of his making and probably is not the fault of anyone else.

Briggs is the boys golf coach at Carmichaels High School and two of his better golfers are sisters Remmey and Delaney Lohr.

Both are good golfers, shooting in the low 40s, and equally talented – only one stroke separates the two in average early this season. But at the end of the regular season, one will go on to the postseason tournaments and the other will go home.

Carmichaels, a Class AA program, does not have a girls golf team and the WPIAL allows only one postseason competitor from schools that don’t sponsor a program to compete in the postseason. It’s not just golf that comes under these restrictions but other individual sports such as tennis, cross country, and wrestling.

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” said Briggs. “They are both talented and they are starters on the boys team. Someone else could get to go (from another school) who isn’t even a starter.”

But WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley says the one qualifier has been a long-standing policy and it’s intent is to encourage schools to offer more athletic programs.

“Every school that decides not to sponsor a team sport that has an individual component is entitled to one entrant in that sport. It’s a courtesy to provide them an opportunity,” O’Malley said. “The rationale behind it is to encourage (schools) to sponsor a team.”

For girls golf, the WPIAL requires at least four players to make a team.

“When schools elect to not sponsor a sport, that’s certainly their prerogative to do so. But the enticement is if they sponsor a sport, every one of their kids (can participate in the postseason),” O’Malley said.

This season, there are 11 girls teams in Class AA and 24 in Class AAA. There are no Class AA girls golf programs in Washington or Greene counties.

“If we started a girls team, we would be going to Westmoreland County or the Beaver Valley to play,” Briggs said.

The boys section Carmichaels competes in, Section 8-AA, has four Greene County schools, Uniontown, Brownsville and California. Uniontown has the same dilemma, no girls program and two state-caliber players in the Rugola sisters, Danae and Adena.

Justin White has been the boys golf coach at Canon-McMillan for eight years and has had female starters in seven of those seasons. Arguably, the most talented was Lauren Waller, who is now playing on the Penn State women’s team.

“Lauren was the obvious choice when she was a senior and her sister, Taylor, was a freshman,” White said. “We talked about it before the season. It would have been nice for Taylor to get that (playoff) experience, but I see what they’re saying.”

Canon-McMillan is in the process of establishing a girls golf team and White hopes it’s competing next season.

South Fayette has a similar situation with Caroline McConnell and Milena Iafrate, who are consistently shooting in the 40s. South Fayette attempted to start a girls program but had only five sign up and just two showed up for practice.

“I feel bad for the one girl,” said Bob Ruffolo, who has coached the Lions for 11 years. “I support the WPIAL. The best avenue is to start a girls program. We made sure the parents understood what was happening. It puts coaches in a tough position. Both can play and I’m glad to have them.”

Dave Kuhn, Peters Township boys golf coach and a member of the WPIAL golf steering committee, said the decision to start a girls program in 2002 was rough going at first.

“But we promoted and recruited and it really took off the next year,” said Kuhn. “We even have a girls JV team. Once you get a girls team, they will come out. I think the girls were only hesitant at first because they didn’t want to be stuck on the boys team. It’s like the old adage, ‘If you build it, they will come.'”