EAST STROUDSBURG — In a sport like golf, most athletes could go their entire high school career without winning a medal at a major tournament. And of the ones that do, they are usually juniors or seniors with the experience of minimizing mistakes. The top of the leaderboard for the Girls’ Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Golf Tournament indicated that, with Nazareth senior Camryn Hoff winning the title and four of the top-five comprising three seniors and one junior.
But the fifth player in that group wasn’t a senior or junior. Instead, Pocono Mountain East sophomore Madeline VanBuskirk earned a medal after shooting an 88 at Great Bear Golf Course to automatically qualify for the District 11 Tournament.
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“I had a couple of big numbers that kind of brought my score up a little, but overall, it wasn’t bad,” VanBuskirk said about her performance. “You get out what you put into it, honestly. Almost every day, my dad and I would go over to the range.
“Going to districts as a freshman was a huge accomplishment. I’m hoping that placing here and getting there again gives me some hope that maybe states are in the cards.”
VanBuskirk finished 17-over-par, which on paper does not look good. But at a golf course where no one finished even and only nine players finished 9-over or better, her score was good enough for T-24th out of 63 golfers, boys and girls. So there are a lot of positive takeaways for the young golfer, and her coach Brian Fitzpatrick thought so as well.
“Maddie is a great kid and a hard worker. She puts a ton of time and effort into it. She has a great swing, but she has a great attitude towards it. Golf is such a challenging sport mentally, and she has a great mental game,” Fitzpatrick said. “She improves week to week. On Monday, she played a number that was consistent in a hostile environment against other competitors. You’ve got to be true to your game to get better at golf. And that’s Maddie. She will absolutely continue to improve over the next couple of years.”
The District 11 Golf Championships will be held at the same course as last year: Steel Club in Hellertown, where VanBuskirk shot a 96 as a freshman. She added that the weather played an important part last year, so it’s something she’ll watch for in a couple of weeks.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Pocono Mountain East’s Maddie VanBuskirk medals at EPC tournament
