Oct 10, 2006 By Jim Downey 2 min read

Waynesburg Central’s Rachel Rohanna didn’t waste any time getting her career started as a freshman last year, and will have to go a long way for an encore performance. Rohanna won the WPIAL Girls Individual Golf Championship in 2005 at Nevillewood, and shared the rain-shortened PIAA Championship with two other girls.

The Lady Raider sophomore enters today’s district final at the Pittsburgh Field Club with the lowest qualifying score of 3-under 69, fired in the qualifier at Murrysville Golf Course.

She will be paired in the first group at 10 a.m. with Laurel Highlands’ Maria Battaglia and Mars’ Marisa Glew.

Battaglia, a junior, seeks her third trip to the state finals. Last year Battaglia finished in a four-way tie for third in the WPIAL finals and finished in 31st in the PIAA Championship.

The girls and boys will have an extra round before hitting the links for the PIAA Championship. The top eight girls will receive WPIAL medals with the top 16 out of 36 advancing to the PIAA Western Regional on Monday, Oct. 16 at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville with the top 11 girls going to the state finals at Heritage Hills Golf Resort and Conference Center on Oct. 23-24.

Uniontown’s Seth Rockwell and David Bobish, Laurel Highlands’ Josh John, Geibel Catholic’s Edward Spotts and Waynesburg Central’s Zach Schloemer will all play in their first WPIAL final on Wednesday at Totteridge Golf Club.

The top 16 receive medals and 32 of the 48 golfers advance to the western regional. A total of 22 boys will then advance to the PIAA finals.