With her final appearance in the Girls State Open, Katelynn Waclawski accomplished what few players have in the history of the Virginia High School league golf tournament.
The Madison Warhawks senior played in the tournament all four seasons of her high-school career, with her scores improving in each event. In her last appearance this fall, Waclawski shot a 4-over 36-38-74 on the Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Harrisonburg to tie for 10th. The winning total was a par 70.
Waclawski carded the third lowest score of any player from Northern Virginia. Her round included two birdies, with the last coming on the par-5 final hole, a nice finish to her high-school career. She started strong, with five straight pars then a birdie on the sixth hole to move to 1-under.
A double bogey on the seventh hole, then a bogey on the ninth, concluded her front nine with a 2-over.
Her round also included a couple of lip-out putts, so her score could have been lower.
“I was somewhat happy with how I played, but never satisfied,” Waclawski said. “I had an eagle putt on the last hole, and that was fun. I was glad to close out like that and I did the best I could out there.”
A golfer since age 3 or 4, Waclawski said it was a goal to play in all four state opens, but I was definitely confident and happy about representing Madison after my first two appearances. I did not put pressure on myself to qualify.”
Making Waclawski’s achievement more notable: She earned no automatic berths into the competition, having to play well enough to qualify for the Girls State Open the hard way each season during an 18-hole zone-qualifying round. Those events include large numbers of players with few qualifying spots.
“Katelynn has been a steady and consistent player for us,” Madison coach Jon Eisman said.
Waclawski’s past scores in the Girls State Open were a 77 and tie for ninth as a junior, an 81 and a tie for 37th her sophomore season and a 91-92–183 for a tie for 43rd during the 36-hole event her freshman campaign.
Waclawski, who will play in college at Fairfield University, also played in district and region tournaments during her four seasons for Madison in the co-ed team competition, posting low scores for the Warhawks.
This past summer, she finished second with a 75-83–158 total in the Billy Hurley III event of a Middle Atlantic Junior Golf event.
* Also at this season’s Girls State Open, five Langley High School players were in the competition, the most from any of the 48 schools represented in the tourney.
Langley was led by a 75 and a tie for 14th by sophomore Catherine Qiu. Alina Ho, another sophomore, shot 76 to tie for 23rd for the Saxons and sophomore Emily Wang had a 77 and tied for 26th. Langley juniors Cami Hiek and Audrey Yim shot 79 and 81, respectively.
Ho, Yim and Wang also played in last season’s Girls State Open. Ho won this season’s zone-qualifying event to earn a state-open berth.