There will be more championships to go around in WPIAL golf this season.
For years, boys coaches and players at the Division II level (Class AA and A) have longed for separate team and individual titles. They got half of their wish in 1991 when the league began staging team championships in Division I (Class AAAA, AAA) and II.
But it has taken the WPIAL 64 years to create a second championship for the smaller schools.
Starting this season, Division II players finally will have the chance to play for their own title.
Both boys and girls Division I and II championships will be contested. The girls never have had a Division II team championship. More teams will have a shot at the title because there are only 34 total girls teams in the league.
A girls individual champion also will be awarded in both divisions for the first time.
"When you look at it, every sport has its own classification championship," said longtime Freeport golf coach Dave Panach, who resigned last season after 19 years. "When they say golf is played on an even board, I don't go for that. In wrestling or track, there isn't much of a difference. It's different in golf.
"I have lobbied for this for 20 years."
WPIAL golf teams began scrimmaging Thursday and will start playing team section matches next week. The postseason won't start until late September, but much of the talk at the time likely will be about the new tournament. And someone will become the league's first Division II champion.
Of the 64 boys titles in WPIAL history, 45 of them belong to players from Class AAAA or Class AAA schools.
The last Division II boys champ was Burgettstown's Christian Goetz in 2005.
The percentage of girls Division I winners is higher — 27 of 33 champs are from bigger schools.
The last small-school champion was Waynesburg's Rachel Rohanna, who won titles in 2005 and '07.
One argument Division II coaches made to the WPIAL was that many Division I players are from larger school districts and belong to private clubs.
"One year, a (Division I) team had 11 players that belonged to a country club and another worked at Oakmont," Panach said. "I was working with kids just trying to find a set of clubs. Players at the rural schools just don't get to play those tougher courses."
The first Division II championship tournament will be Sept. 29 at Youghiogheny Country Club.
The tournament also should eliminate what some coaches call, "the intimidation factor."
"It's a more fair system, I think," first-year Freeport boys coach Joe Sprumont said. "It gives the kids a more realistic goal."
The top finishers from eight sectional tournaments advance to the finals, and the top 12 move on to a PIAA regional qualifier, which — this can get confusing — is also the WPIAL Division I finals.
"I think it's better for a team like us," Ford City boys coach Joe Sgriccia said. "It's a better representation for us. We have some quality kids. But when they go against the bigger schools, they kind of get lost in the shuffle."
The WPIAL always has crowned just one individual girls champion, beginning in 1977.
The league began crowning girls team champions in 1975.
Additional Information:Players to watch
Girls
» Kendall Allen, Jr., Shady Side Academy
» Nadia Luttner, Sr., Fox Chapel
» Katerina Luttner, Jr., Fox Chapel
Boys
» Tim Barto, Sr., Kittanning
» Jack Boros, Jr., Knoch
» Garrett Bylinowski, Sr., St. Joseph
» Billy Clark, So., Valley
» Grant Gillman, Sr., Fox Chapel
» Kyle Horrell, Sr., Kiski Area
» Chris Ignatz, Sr., Ford City
» Tommy Leech, Sr., Fox Chapel
» Justin Miller, Sr., Riverview
» Cody Sawhook, Jr., Valley
