The Southeast girls golf team captured the district championship last week.

By Susan Jenior

Staff Writer

It was an exciting week in high-school golf as state qualifiers earned their way into the Division II and Division III OHSAA state tournaments, Division-I golfer qualified at OHSAA sectionals for the Division I state qualifiers this week and leagues concluded their play with some announcing the best golfers in the conferences.

A REMARKABLE ACCOMPLISHMENT

Taylor Blazek, a Southeast senior, and James Morgan, a Southeast junior, each earned a remarkable accomplishment in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference this season.

Southeast senior Taylor Blazek earned Player of the Year honors in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference’s Girls Division.
Susan Jenior/Portage Sports

Blazek and Morgan both won their respective conference tournaments at Salem Hill Golf Club in Salem, earning medalist honors over all of the girls and boys teams.

With that win, and following conference play in 14 matches each, Blazek and Morgan earned Player of the Year honors in the Girls Division and the Gray Division, respectively.

This is a repeat for both golfers, but in a different conference.

In 2023, Morgan and Blazek were both the tournament medalists in the Portage Trail Conference and were also the Players of the Year in the PTC.

Repeating as Player of the Year is not an easy task, but to do it across two different conferences is unique, to say the least.

The MVAC, beginning this season, computed their first teams and Players of the Year the same way the PTC computes their honorees. It is unique as the golfers earn their way onto the First Team, Second Team and Player

Southeast junior James Morgan was named the Player of the Year in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference’s Gray Division.
Susan Jenior/Portage Sports

of the Year honors with points earned throughout the season for scores in the matches and the final tournament.

For Morgan and Blazek, it was a remarkable two years in two different conferences with the exact same results.

Congratulations to both golfers.

THEIR TICKET IS PUNCHED

Southeast’s James Morgan and the Southeast varsity girls team both qualified for the Division II state tournaments beginning Sunday and concluding on Oct. 14 at Firestone Country Club in Akron.

Morgan will compete at the North Course of Firestone Country Club, while the varsity girls team will compete both days at the Fazio Golf Course, previously known as the West Course at Firestone.

Both were exciting finals as the Southeast boys competed at the Division II district at Windmill Golf Club in Ravenna and the Southeast girls tackled Brookledge Golf Course in Cuyahoga Falls for the spot in the state tournament.

It took a five-way playoff for Morgan to advance to the state tournament.

Seeking one of two individual-qualifying spots remaining, Morgan scored a par 4 on the 10 hole, the playoff hole for the district, to advance as an individual to the state tournament this weekend.

A five-way playoff is not easy.

All five golfers teed off at the same time on the 10th hole, but it was Morgan that prevailed with the par, one golfer converted a birdie and the other three bogeyed the hole.

Morgan will play a practice round on Friday on the North Course before beginning his state competition on Sunday.

For the Southeast girls, it appeared that it was almost easy as the team led wire-to-wire as fans watched the live scoring app.

But the second place team (of two qualifying teams) fired a solid 355 at GoodPark Golf Course in Akron. The Pirates, with Blazek leading the team, fired a 351 to earn the district championship and the first spot in the state tournament at Firestone.

The scoring included Taylor Blazek, senior 81; Samantha Morgan, freshman 85; Aubree Varga, junior 85; Jessica Mix, junior 102; and Jennifer Mix, junior 96.

The girls from Southeast will also play their practice round on Saturday and begin the first round of the 36-hole tournament on Sunday on the West Course at Firestone.

DIVISION I SECTIONAL TOURNAMENTS

Both Kent Roosevelt and Aurora will be well represented at the Division I district tournaments at Pine Hills Golf Club in Hinkley (for the boys) and Brookledge Golf Course in Cuyahoga Falls (for the girls).

Both the Aurora girls and the Kent Roosevelt girls qualified for the Brookledge Division I district at Brookledge on Tuesday and are seeking a berth at the state tournament at the NCR Golf Club in Dayton.

Kyle Lancaster, a senior at Aurora, grabbed an individual spot at the Division I district, qualifying out of Windmill Lakes Division I Sectional and Liam Curtis of Kent earned the first-qualifying spot to the Division I district, coming out of the Division I Tannenhauf Sectional.

Both boys tee off at the Pine Hills Division I District today seeking a qualifying spot at the state tournament.