NTL GOLF: CANTON'S SCHOONOVER TAKES 2ND AT DISTRICTS, BECOMES FIRST CANTON GOLFER TO QUALIFY FOR STATES (2024-10-06)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
WILLIAMSPORT — Canton’s Izzie Schoonover made school history on Saturday, becoming the first Warrior to earn a trip to the PIAA Golf Championships as she took second during the District IV Class AA Girls’ Championships.

“I’m ecstatic,” Schoonover said. “I’m happy to be here in the first place. I didn’t know how far I was going to come this season, and I’m just really happy to be here.”

Schoonover took second by one stroke, shooting a 92 on the second day after carding a 103 on the first day to finish plus-49.

There was a playoff for the third spot, with Lourdes’ Vivian Reiprish edged out Central Columbia’s Lauren Brosious. Both shot plus-50 for the tournament.

Schoonover didn’t know how close she was to the playoff, though, as she refused to look at the leaderboard.

“I didn’t look at my score all day,” she said. “I don’t look at my scores, I don’t tally anything up as I’m playing. I wait until the end. I just try to go into it with a clear head and not focus on the score, and just focus on the shot I’m about to make.”

That worked as she had one of the best rounds of her career on the front nine, carding a 43 with three birdies.

“That was absolutely amazing,” Schoonover remarked. “I have a good drive, so I really just tried to utilize that and come off aggressive off the tee, and go from there. I’m really happy with it.”

She backslid a little bit on the back nine, at one point recording three straight double bogeys, but grinded out a 49 on the final nine holes.

On 18 she needed bogey to stay away from the playoff. Her par putt was long by three foot, and had a downhill putt back, but hit the center of the cup.

“I was really just hoping that if I did happen to miss it I could still play it safe and make the 2-putt and go from there,” Schoonover said.

It’s been a career year for the Canton senior, and she credits plenty of time on the golf course at Corey Creek for her improvement.

“I had some great people to play with this summer,” she said. “I played almost every single day, and they pushed me to be better, and I appreciate them for that.”

Schoonover hopes this will help Canton’s golf program as they try to get it off the ground.

“I’d love for underclassmen to really give it a shot,” she said. “It’s a great sport, if you really enjoy it.”

As for states, she’s just going to treat it like she treated districts.

“I’m just happy I made it there in the first place,” said Schoonover. “Rather than focusing on beating all the other girls I just want to play the best that I possibly can.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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