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High school golfers can have a tough time trying to qualify for their respective state championship tournaments. Katie Wortman has done it twice in her young high school career with vision in only one eye. The sophomore has reached the Minnesota state-championship tournament twice using different techniques to overcome the sight disadvantage. One interesting technique is on putts. Instead of a tradition putting stance, she lines up behind the ball with an open stance and her hands far in front of her body. It is the only way she can get a good look at each putt.

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– Tom Reisenweber

The District 10 Committee has released its list of proposed regions for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. The committee members have a little less than two weeks to review each sport before meeting on Feb. 8 in Sharon to finalize all regions.

Rivals Villa Maria and Mercyhurst Prep have been placed in the same region for girls basketball, while Tidioute Charter has elected to compete in region play. Tidioute has always been a member of District 10 but opted to play an independent schedule. TCCS will compete in girls volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, girls swimming, boys cross country and girls cross country.

Click here for a list of the proposed regions by sport.

– Tom Reisenweber

The PIAA’s new fall sports classifications for the 2012-14 cycle place Strong Vincent’s and General McLane’s football teams in Class AAA.
Strong Vincent dropped from Class AAAA, while General McLane moved up from AA. Corry, Fort LeBoeuf and Grove City all dropped to Class AA from AAA, bringing significant changes to the District 10 regions this fall.

Class A is largely the same, with the exception of Saegertown making the jump to Class AA in football.

Other significant changes came in girls soccer. With the eastern part of the state moving spring soccer to the fall, Fairview, North East and Seneca are now in Class A, while East and Meadville dropped to AA, leaving only McDowell, Central Tech and Strong Vincent in the largest classification, AAA. East and Strong Vincent dropped into Class AA in boys soccer.

The rest of the classifications are due to be released in the next few weeks. New District 10 regions are to be approved in February.

Click below for the classifications by fall sport from around the state.

Football

Boys Soccer

Girls Soccer

Boys Cross Country

Girls Cross Country

Boys Golf

Girls Golf

Girls Tennis

Girls Volleyball

PIAA 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 Fall Sports Classifications

Tuesday’s results from the District 10 girls golf tournament at the par-72 Riverside Golf Club in Cambridge Springs. The top four entrants advanced to the PIAA Western Regional Tournament, scheduled Oct. 18 at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville:

– Mike Copper

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The District 10 boys and girls golf tournaments take place Tuesday at separate sites.

The boys will tee off with a 9:45 a.m. shotgun at the par-71 Oak Tree Country Club in West Middlesex. General McLane senior Jim Lasher, the 2008 winner, is in the lead group with fellow contenders Cameron Zbrzeznj (Cathedral Prep), Kennedy Neely (Titusville) and Brett Rinker (Slippery Rock).

The top eight golfers will advance to the PIAA Western Regional Tournament, scheduled Oct. 18 at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville.

Riverside Golf Club in Cambridge Springs hosts the girls tournament. Their shotgun is set for 10 a.m. at the par-72 Crawford County course, with the top four bound for Blairsville.

McDowell senior Karlie Zabrosky will attempt to win the event for the third straight season.

Tuesday will be the final time the district holds open-class tournaments. The PIAA will switch to small- and large-school formats in 2012.

The pairings are as follows:

– Mike Copper

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Saturday’s results from the District 10 team golf tournament at the par-72 Country Club of Meadville. The top four rounds for each team counted as its final score. The winning teams advanced to the PIAA western regional team tournament at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville:

– Mike Copper

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District 10 girls golf director Ed Zenewicz announced a change in the starting tee times for Saturday’s team tournament at The Country Club of Meadville.

While the first shots for the boys tournament remain at 10 a.m., the girls won’t begin until 11. Region 1 champion Hickory, along with at-large entries Mercyhurst Prep and Villa Maria, will try to end the three-year championship reign of Region 2 top seed McDowell.

Should the Trojans emerge victorious, senior Karlie Zabrosky would become the district’s first female golfer to compete on four team titlists. Zabrosky also is the district’s two-time defending individual winner.

Saturday will be the district’s last open class tournament. The PIAA will switch to small school and large school postseasons in 2012.

– Mike Copper

The Associated Press released a Friday story about a New York state law that will require all public and private high school athletic teams to remove a player from a game if it’s determined he or she has suffered a concussion. The law will go into effect for the 2012-13 academic year.

– Mike Copper

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It’s early in the golf season, but already District 10 is showing a competitive balance that hasn’t always existed in recent years.

For example, thanks to Dave Rinderle’s 36, McDowell won the Region 6 mega-match Tuesday. That result came just four days after the Trojans finished fourth in the opening Region 6 mega-match. Quite a turnaround.

Cathedral Prep continues to be strong after placing first and second respectively in the first two mega-matches. However, the big surprise this year is that several other teams appear to be competitive in the Region 6 team standings.

Mercyhurst Prep and Strong Vincent tied for second in the opening match, with ‘Hurst winning the tiebreaker. On Tuesday, Vincent, led by Chris Kupniewski, placed third again, just one stroke behind Prep. In the past, Prep and McDowell had been the clear top tier in the region. Now, it’s not so clear.

Harbor Creek also is showing signs that it can’t be ignored. The Huskies placed fourth Tuesday, but they finished just two strokes behind second-place Prep.

Prep is still the favorite, but the gap has closed.

Region 5 is also looking competitive. After preseason favorite Fort LeBoeuf won the first mega-match, Jimmy Lasher and General McLane won the second match. Don’t overlook the Lancers and their former D-10 champion.

In a side note, the same parity is showing in girls Region 2, where McDowell has dominated in recent seasons. Led by Ari Capotis, Mercyhurst Prep beat the Trojans by four strokes in the first Region 2 match Monday. Villa Maria finished third, just three strokes behind McDowell. This could get interesting.

McDowell's Karlie Zabrosky was a repeat winner as District 10 Female Golfer of the Year.

The Erie Times-News and GoErie.com unveiled the District 10 All-Stars and athletes of the year in five sports today. Use the links below to see the all-stars.

Boys cross country

Girls cross country

Boys golf

Girls golf

Girls tennis

Look for the District 10 All-Stars in boys and girls soccer and girls volleyball next week.

The District 10 Football All-Stars will be published in December after the PIAA championships.

It’s been clear during the past several seasons that District 10 features some pretty skilled golfers.

That was proven once again during the first two days of the season, Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, General McLane’s Jimmy Lasher shot a 2-under-par 69 to highlight a season-opening Region 5 mega-match at Corry’s North Hills Golf Course.

However, Fort LeBoeuf still pulled out the mega-match win over the Lancers, who were playing without standout Garrett Rodgers. Nick VanDamia’s 1-over 72 led the Bisons.

Also during the Region 5 match, Fairview’s Gabe Malthaner sank a hole-in-one. He used a 7-iron to ace the 158-yard 15th hole.

On Friday, the ever-tough Region 6 opened, with Prep beating McDowell 140-147 in a six-team mega-match. Prep’s Nick Bird shot a memorable round, carding a 6-under-par 31 on Gospel Hill’s par-37 back nine. That was just one stroke short of a the record set by Dave Hewett.

The Ramblers’ Cameron Zbrzeznj also finished under par with a 3-under 34.

McDowell’s Andy Milloy and Zac Bihler had 2-under 35s.

The fall sports seasons have opened, and the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com have begun a series of overviews and season previews for District 10.

Overviews are a general look at the season for sports that begin Sept. 3. (More extensive season previews will be published/posted at a later time.) Season previews are published for sports that begin their regular seasons before Sept. 3.

The first season preview is up today, as the high school golf season opens throughout the state. Here are looks at and links for the overview/preview series:

Monday: Key dates/football overview
Tuesday:  Soccer overview
Wednesday: Girls volleyball overview
Today: Golf season preview
Friday: Cross country overview
Saturday: Water polo overview
Monday: Girls tennis preview

Note: Football, soccer, girls volleyball and soccer previews will follow at dates to be announced.

Also, read about the 112-page football Kickoff magazine, now available at Country Fair.