On the tee: Revak ready to guide Mustangs golf team
Mike Revak chips onto the sixth green at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in the second round of the C. Harper Fayette County Open. Revak enters his first season as the Laurel Highlands golf coach as the Mustangs begin the season today in the TriCADA Golf Tournament at Chippewa Golf Course.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Braden Benke and Frazier’s Nixen Erdely watch Benke’s tee shot on the first hole at Chippewa Golf Course during the 2022 TriCADA Championship. Erdely looks to repeat last year’s top-10 finish today in the annual tournament.
Golfers start posting scores that count today when several local teams officially begin the fall sports season in the TriCADA Invitational at Chippewa Golf Course.
Albert Gallatin, Frazier, Laurel Highlands, Uniontown, Waynesburg Central, Jefferson-Morgan, Carmichaels, Charleroi, Ringgold and Bentworth are scheduled to participate in the season-opening golf tournament.
Carmichaels won the small team title last year, and the Mikes’ Mason Lapana, Uniontown’s Logan Voytish and Frazier’s Nixen Erdely all placed in the top 10.
The tournament will be the first for Mike Revak, the newly-hired coach at his alma mater, Laurel Highlands. Revak replaces Jim Joyce, who stepped down after last year.
“I talked to Jim (Joyce) last year and (his daughter) Megan was going to W&J, and he wanted to follow her, basically,” explained Revak. “I talked to him about it. I talked with (assistant athletic director) Mike Smith and he said, ‘Oh, yeah, I don’t even know if anyone is applying.'”
Revak was one of two candidates for the job and received the nod for the 2023 season.
Revak is a familiar face on the county golf courses and is a former champion of the Fayette County Open. He closed out the 2023 tournament with a 4-under 67 at Uniontown Country Club.
His two sons played in juniors events over the summer, and a few members of his LH squad competed against him in this year’s county tournament.
“I felt like I want to grow golf in the area. My sons are coming up. My oldest son Ryan is going into ninth grade. My other son Damon is going into seventh grade,” said Revak. “But, I just wanted to expose them to better courses (in juniors competition) and better competition in case down the road they want to play.”
Revak graduated from Laurel Highlands in 1994 and continued his academic and athletic careers at Washington & Jefferson College.
“We had a really nice team. Our problem was Mount Pleasant. They were studs,” recalled Revak. “I had a nice career at W&J. I was conference MVP all four years.”
His career path almost coursed to golf, but he opted for the classroom.
“I was going to teach golf. I passed the PAT (Playing Ability Test). I just opted on a teaching career with physics,” said Revak.
Revak has coached basketball for over 20 years, but it’s his first time leading a team from a golf cart and not a bench. He was pleased with the work his players put in over the summer.
“What we did was conditioning all summer. We went to the range and we had 12 stations, six with club in hands and six for resistance work. I had between 12 and 17 kids each Tuesday, which was great,” said Revak.
The Mustangs have made a favorable impression on their new coach as he hopes to improve their skills and knowledge of the game.
“Those kids can play. I’m just going to try to simplify the game for them, turning three shots into two. If we can on the green, and figure out how to get it from there to there in two instead of three, that’s a big deal,” said Revak, adding, “Most of these kids can hit the ball. If we can just get them a little smarter, earlier, I think that’s the big thing.”
Laurel Highlands will compete in Section 2-AAA with Connellsville, Albert Gallatin, McKeesport, Trinity and Ringgold.
Revak won’t head into the season completely blind with a level of familiarity of the area’s coaches and courses.
“I know Bernie (Wydo, AG’s coach) and Aaron (Scott, Uniontown’s coach), and I just got (Connellsville coach) Brent Rockwell’s number,” said Revak. “I played Lone Pine Country Club (Trinity’s home course). That was my course when I was at W&J.”
Mount Pleasant and Southmoreland compete in Section 2-AA. Bentworth, Beth-Center, Brownsville, Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan and Waynesburg Central play in Section 3-AA.
Belle Vernon, Charleroi, Elizabeth Forward, Frazier, Geibel Catholic, Uniontown and Yough are in Section 8-AA.
The Elizabeth Forward girls play in Section 2-AAA, while Connellsville competes in Section 3-AAA. Mount Pleasant and Southmoreland are in Section 1-AA.
Section play for both boys and girls begins next week.