Mount Golf Off to a Strong Start
Below are excerpts from an article that originally was published in the Chestnut Hill Local. Read the full article here.
Mount Saint Joseph Academy has won the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies golf championship every year since an official league tournament was established in 2003. The early signs point to that streak continuing in 2019.
The golf season gets underway quite early, and the Mount Magic already played matches against three league opponents last week. On Monday, Mount St. Joe had opened the 2019 campaign on the road in Northeast Philadelphia, knocking off Nazareth Academy, 236-285. Playing host on Tuesday, the Magic dispatched Merion Mercy Academy, 235-315. On Wednesday, Gwynedd was the official home team at Blue Bell, and in a tri-match involving the Monarchs and Merion Mercy, the Magic turned in a score of 158, besting Gwynedd (191) and Merion (255).
Two members of that team have graduated, but the top two individual scorers from 2018 are both back this season. They are senior Olivia Wirsching, out of Ancillae Assumpta Academy in Wyncote, and Norwood Fontbonne Academy graduate Clare Gimpel.
Wirshing is a team captain this season along with classmate Jill Baum, and the third senior on the squad is Sarah Spears. Gimpel’s 11th-grade classmates are Gwen DeLeo, Sofia Gambone, Reilly Kelly and Jennifer Seminack, and two of her former Norwood schoolmates are current Mount sophomores Nora Blatney and Caroline Gola.
Gola helped the Mount win the 2018 district title when she filled in for a senior who was forced to withdraw at the last moment. The other 10th-graders on this year’s team are returning players Catherine Oh, Allie Petkunas and Lauren Quirk (an Ancillae alum) and another sophomore, Molly Amons, is new to the team this year.
There are three freshmen on the roster, Gabi Courtney, Emma McGrath and Grace O’Brien.
John Mischler is back for his fourth season as the Mount’s coach, and he is joined once again by Jules Quinones. They are the fathers of former MSJ players Nicole Mischler ’13 and Grace Quinones ’18.