MIKE GROSS | Sports WriterYORK - “Sleeping on the lead,’’ comes with stress and anxiety and is what every golfer wants.
Two Lancaster-Lebanon League golfers - Warwick’s Elle Overly and Reagan Flynn of Annville-Cleona - hit the pillow with that privilege and challenge Friday after reaching the top of the leaderboard through one day of the District Three championships in York County.
Overly, a Warwick junior and the Lancaster-Lebanon League girls’ champion, shot an even-par 72 to take a one-shot lead in girls’ Class AAA at Honey Run Golf Club. Flynn shot 72, also even par, at nearby Briarwood to share the boys’ AA lead with Clark Brubacher of Conestoga Christian.
The “bad,’’ news for Overly was that she played the par-5s two over par, including a three-putt from 10 feet on the 15th, her third hole of the day.
The good news was she birdied 13 and 16, the hole right after the three-putt. The bad news for the field is that Overly, a long hitter, isn’t likely to miss chances on the long holes two days in a row and is past letting such things eat at her.
“I realize that if I get angry or frustrated, that’s not going to help me; that’s not how golf works,’’ she said. “I going to try to birdie all the par-5s tomorrow.’’
Flynn, a senior, was second in districts to Winston Thai of Lancaster Country Day a year ago, and 25th in states.
He also showed some bounceback Friday. On the par-5 13th, his third shot hit a cart path and bounded out-of-bounds, leading to double bogey. Then he bogeyed the par-3 14th, but responded with birdies at 16 and 17.
“With four years of high school golf and junior golf in the summer,’’ Flynn said, “I've made enough birdies and stretches of birdies to know that I can go on a tear and get myself right back into it, right?’’
Right.
Overly leads Wilson’s Kayla Maletto by one and her friendly L-L rival Piper Smith, of Manheim Township, by two.
The Blue Streaks’ recently-formed girls team easily won the AAA team title with a 231 total on Smith’s 74, a 78 (fifth overall) by Paisley Kappesser and 79 (tied for sixth) by Sonia Dumasia.
Logan Francis, Flynn’s A-C teammate, is tied for third in boys’ AA with a 75.
In boys’ AAA, Andrew Bilson of Manheim Township made a pair of late birdies to finish at 71, one under and tied for fourth, two shots back of leader Lane Krosse of Dallastown.
L-L champion Jesse Shue of Penn Manor was two under for the day at one point, and finished at 72, tied for 12th. Warwick’s Joey McGinity is another shot back at 74, tied for 17th.
Dylan Ramsey of Cedar Crest, who won the state AAA title last year as a freshman, had a wobbly start - six over through eight holes - but rallied with four birdies in a five-hole stretch and stayed afloat at 75, tied for 22nd.
In AAA, the top 36 boys plus ties (scores of 79 or better) made the cut into Saturday’s final round. The top 18 qualify for the state tournament, with sudden-death playoffs if necessary.
The top nine AAA girls’ finishers advance to states.
In AA, the top 16 boys plus ties made the cut (84 or better), and the top eight, along with the top four girls, will make states.
The individual state tournament will be played Oct. 16-17 at Penn State University’s Blue (AAA) and White (AA) courses, with team states Oct. 18 at the same venues.
