Northern Tier Sports Report

Athens Canton NEB Sayre Towanda Troy Wyalusing Youth College Preview/Wrap-Up Opinion

NTL GOLF: TOWANDA GOLFERS HAVE HIGH HOPES FOR 2025 (2025-08-07)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
Towanda golf has high hopes for the 2025 season as they bring back a young nucleus on the boys’ side, and the returning District IV, Class AA Champions with the girls.

“It’s really exciting having the youth that we still have,” coach Paul Lantz said about the boys. “They’re very talented, and have been playing a lot all summer. I just feel like we’re really moving in the right direction with the youth, and they’re going to continue to grow and get better.”

The Black Knights return all but one golfer from last year’s squad that took third at the District IV, Class AA championships, including state qualifier Owen Savercool.

“Hopefully he embraces it,” Lantz said about Savercool coming in with higher expectations. “I think that’s key for him, just to continue to grind every day, and play everyday with that expectation. Just play one shot at a time, one match at a time.”

Savercool averaged 84.72 a year ago as a freshman.

“I’ve just been playing a lot of golf,” he said. “Basically hitting a lot of putts, chipping a lot. I definitely feel a little bit of pressure on me for making it, but I’m just ultimately here to have fun. That’s my goal.”

Another key returnee is fellow sophomore Boom Thompson, who led the team with an 81.22 average a year ago.

He made the second day of districts a year ago, as well, but came up just short of states.

“My goals are still going to be the same,” he said. “I want to get to states this year, last year I fell short after a couple bad rounds.”

Other two key returnees are Graham Wells (81.81) and Baylee Clark (88.87).

“I think their own self expectations are high,” Lantz said about his returnees. “Obviously, I have high expectations for them, but they’re the ones that have to do it on the course.”

The core group are all the same age, so they spend plenty of time on the course together.

“It’s awesome because I never have to play alone,” Savercool said. “I’ll always have someone here.”

One of the biggest goals they have this year is dethroning Athens on top of the NTL.

“I definitely think we’ve got a chance this year,” remarked Savercool. “We’ve got a good starting six, at least, and I think they lost a couple key players.”

And after last year’s strong showing at team districts, the Knights believe they can compete for that team title there, too, this year and beyond.

“We have a ton of young guys, and we’re going to be really strong for the future,” Thompson said. “We don’t have any seniors so we’re going to be pretty good for these upcoming years if we just stay together and keep playing through the summer.”

On the girls’ side they return their top golfers from a year ago that claimed their program’s first district title.

“They’re awesome,” Lantz said. “They’ve been working hard this summer, as well, and just hopefully they can just keep going in that same direction. They’ve all been improving their scores.”

Senior Clara Glantz is excited to give it a go one more time, along with teammates Rosie Glantz, Izzy Repsher, Peyton Perry, and Maggie Glantz.

“I want to make it count, and have fun with every part of the season,” she said. “Last year was a big step for us, it gave us a lot of motivation, and now we are ready to come back more focused and ready to go further.”

She, and the others on the team have been hitting the course hard.

“Practice, practice, and more practice,” Glantz said has been their mantra. “No matter how much I practice, it always feels like there’s something else i could work on. There’s always room to get better.”

And, even though they won districts they didn’t qualify for states, a goal they hope to accomplish this year.

One thing for sure is that it’s a good time to be a Knight golfer.

(The girls) have got a great team this year, we’ve got a great team this year - a lot of good opportunities,” Savercool said.

ROSTER (Grade)

BOYS

Boom Thompson (10)

Graham Welles (11)

Owen Savercool (10)

Jason Wickwire (9)

Baylee Clark (10)

Josh Maye (10)

Lucas Vincent (11)