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EXETER — Tyler Yankosky spent most of the spring and summer swinging a baseball bat for the Wyoming Valley West and the Swoyersville American Legion teams.
The senior didn’t get fully into swinging a golf club until earlier this month.
That didn’t matter much on Monday at Fox Hill Country Club as Yankosky traded sticks and walked away with the title of the Tryba Preseason Invitational.
Yankosky carded a 75 using an eagle on the par-4 No. 16 hole to best Crestwood’s Shane Angle by one shot. Lake-Lehman’s Adam Motovidlak (77) finished third, while Coughlin’s Ryan Keyes and Tunkhannock’s Tyler Faux fired 78 to tie for fourth.
As a standout pitcher, Yankosky helped the Spartans reach the PIAA Class 4A championship game before helping Swoyersville make a run at the league title until its reign as defending state champion ended in the league playoffs. During the baseball season, he said he golfed a handful of times but didn’t start getting into the daily routine until about two weeks ago.
“Practice routine this summer has been a baseball swing.” said Yankosky, who became the first golfer from Wyoming Valley West to claim the tourney’s title in the 14-year history of the event. “In the past two weeks, I’ve been spending four, five hours at the course everyday grinding it out. It paid off in the end.”
Yankosky, who improved by five shots from his showing last year at the tourney, struggled with his drives until the 16th when he said that he “finally had a good drive” then got a nice chip shot to reach the hole in two strokes. He also added a pair of birdies to come out victorious.
“That really helped me to win,” Yankosky said of his eagle. “Normally, I would think about a par there, so those two shots really helped.”
On the team side, Angle’s sharp shooting helped the Comets score 327 and claim their second straight championship, edging Coughlin by one stroke.
Angle, who tied for fifth in last season’s event, improved by four this season to pick up the Comets’ lowest score. But perhaps the most important performance for Crestwood came from John McGroarty, who was listed as the team’s No. 5 golfer but posted the second-lowest score for coach Mark Jarolen, carding 82. Mike Golden’s 84 and Tyler Papura’s round of 85 were also good enough to score for the Comets.
“That’s his first time playing this course,” Jarolen said of McGroarty. “I just got done telling him that if there was any surprise of the whole group it was John’s. He really improved his game over the course of one year.”
The Crusaders, who may have entered as tournament favorites, were paced by Keyes, who was two shots better than last year, Tyler Kurilla (81), Collin Krokus (84) and Billy Mills (85). Coughlin and Crestwood have began a rivalry battling for the Wyoming Valley Conference’s Class 3A title. Crestwood has bested the Crusaders for the last two, while Coughlin claimed the regular season match last season.
Monday’s showing just intensifies the growing rivalry.
“We knew Coughlin was going to be the team, (coach) Mike Galli said that he has the target on his back and I think he was accurate in the preseason,” Jarolen said. “It’s going to be interesting, but Coughlin is the team to beat.”
The team race was closer than it looked with Hazleton Area (337) finishing third. The next four teams all finished within five strokes of one another led by fourth-place Wyoming Area (342), Valley West (344), Wyoming Seminary (345) and Tunkhannock (347).
Tryba Preseason Invitational
Individual Scores
1. Tyler Yankosky, Wyoming Valley West`38-37-75
2. Shane Angle, Crestwood`37-39-76
3. Adam Motovidlak, Lake-Lehman`35-42-77
4. Ryan Keyes, Coughlin`37-41-78
4. Tyler Faux, Tunkhannock`39-39-78
6. Kenny Wallace, Holy Redeemer`38-42-80
6. Anthony Shaver, Wyoming Area`39-41-80
8. Tyler Kurilla, Coughlin`42-39-81
9. Frank Seratch, Hazleton Area`38-43-81
10. John McGroarty, Crestwood`41-41-82
Team Scores
Crestwood`327
Shane Angle`37-39-76
John McGroarty`41-41-82
Mike Golden`43-41-84
Tyler Papura`42-43-85
Coughlin`328
Ryan Keyes`37-41-78
Tyler Kurilla`42-39-81
Collin Krokus`43-41-84
Billy Mills`43-42-85
Hazleton Area`337
Frank Seratch`38-43-81
Geran Triano`41-43-84
Josh Provost`43-43-86
Jordan Pick`44-42-86
Wyoming Area`342
Anthony Shaver`39-41-80
Ryan Wrubel`41-45-86
Nik Athmann`41-56-86
Madeline Wharton`46-44-90
Wyoming Valley West`344
Tyler Yankosky`38-37-75
David McCue`46-42-88
Matt Evans`45-43-88
Ryan Hogan`50-43-93
Wyoming Seminary`345
Liam Gilroy`43-40-83
Noah Munley`38-46-84
Bobby Wilson`40-46-86
Jarod Godlewski`50-42-92
Tunkhannock`347
Tyler Faux`39-39-78
Brett Soltysiak`44-42-86
Mike Greene`47-44-91
Hunter Prevost`46-46-92
Dallas`351
Mason Gattuso`42-43-85
Alexis Wyandt`44-41-85
Ethan Zawatski`45-45-90
Adam Niznik`45-46-91
Holy Redeemer`351
Kenny Wallace`38-42-80
Dave Iskra`46-43-89
Connor Maloney`45-45-90
Tom Day`38-42-80
Berwick`370
Zach Evans`45-45-90
Matt Champ`44-47-91
Nate Laubach`47-45-92
Jake Demler`50-47-97
Dylan Michael`50-47-97
Lake-Lehman`375
Adam Motovidlak`35-42-77
Mike Sikora`45-46-91
Tyler Scharff`50-48-98
Tanner Harry`53-56-109
Pittston Area`393
Allie Craig`43-46-89
Chaz Yager`48-52-100
Jeff Donnora`52-49-101
Joe Carchilla`51-52-103
Hanover Area`467
Shelby Monk`56-53-109
Devin Senk`57-57-114
David Swartz`57-63-120
Joe Berkant`62-62-124
Top individuals on non-scoring teams
George Palermo, MMI`42-44-86
Eric Grodzicki, Nanticoke`46-44-90
Lee Falzone, Meyers`43-48-91
Paul Leco, GAR `59-52-111