Wyoming Area’s Aiden August tees off on 10, his final hole, at Fox Hill on Monday.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
EXETER — Aiden August did not leave much margin for error in just getting into the District 2 Individual Golf Championships.
Once there, however, Wyoming Area’s August made the most of the opportunity.
August lowered his score by 13 strokes in one week at Fox Hill Country Club to finish tied for fourth and claim one of six available state tournament berths in Class 2A boys.
Pittston Area’s Patrick Ruane, one of five to advance in Class 3A boys, and August will head to Penn State University Oct. 20-21 for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Championships.
The course may have been the same as in the Wyoming Valley Conference qualifying event, but the conditions were not. Monday’s dryer conditions were more suited to August’s swing and he took advantage.
“It was soaking yet for pre-districts,” August said after his 2-over-par, 73. “Today, we started an hour later. It was a little bit dryer. That’s really the main thing that happened.
“The reason I shot so bad for pre-districts was that I chunked everything because it was just swampy.”
August got comfortable with eight straight pars to start. He had to scramble a bit to save the first two pars, then settled if after putting a 6-iron from about 200 yards to 10 feet to eventually tap in for a more routine, two-putt, par on the par-3, 13th.
“It was just par golf,” August said. “There wasn’t much to it.”
August hit approach shots close for birdies on 5 and 7.
Ruane also brought his score down from the week before, dropping seven strokes to a 76, which was good enough for fourth.
“I haven’t been keeping my drive in play a lot recently,” Ruane said. “I had a good lesson with my coach at the range the other day and that kind of helped me out, keeping it in play.”
Good wedge play and converting the resulting short putts were also contributors.
After starting on 18, Ruane had birdies on 9 and 15. He rolled in a putt from beyond 25 feet for the first birdie and firmly knocked an up-hill, four-footer into the back of he cup on 15.
Ryan Roman from Dallas matched par with a 71 to lead the 32-player Class 3A field.
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Brady Gerrity was second with a 75. Abington Heights had the other two qualifiers, Ryan Boyd and Seamus Kelley.
Noah Gruber, Andrew Nocito and David Homschek from Pittston Area were unable to advance. Gruber was 11th with an 84; Nocito was 18th with an 87 and Homschek was 32nd with a 101.
Scranton Prep’s Ben Boyanoski played the back nine in 3-under to get into a three-way playoff, which he won to finish as Class 2A medalist with a 1-over, 72.
The defending state champion Cavaliers claimed four of the six individual state berths.
Boyanoski beat teammate Guy Rothery and Holy Redeemer freshman Liam Gill in the playoff. Boyanoski parred the first hole while Rothery and Gill bogeyed.
Scranton Prep’s Cole Powell shot 73 to tie August for fourth and Jack Pavuk shot a 76.
Wyoming Area’s Mitchell Rusinchak and Old Forge’s Joey Revello tied for 21st out of 44 players with an 87.
