Girls golf
East's Saffire, North's Curry qualify for states
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East senior Katie Saffire tied for third with a score of 112 at the inaugural Section VI girls golf championship held on Tuesday, May 22 at Brookfield Country Club in Clarence to qualify for the New York State Public High School Championships on June 9-10 at Fox Fire Golf Club in Baldwinsville, N.Y. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

All Katie Saffire ever wanted before she graduated from Williamsville East was to earn a varsity letter in girls golf and last fall her dream came true with the debut of the sport in Williamsville.

Saffire's dream continued by tying for third place with Fredonia's Kelly Pagano with a score of 112 at the first Section VI Girls Golf Championships held on Tuesday, May 22 at Brookfield Country Club in Clarence to qualify for the New York State Public High Athletic Association state championships on June 9-10 at Fox Fire Golf Club in Baldwinsville, N.Y. However, she's not going attend the state meet, instead choosing to go the East senior prom, which falls on June 9.

"It was kind of upsetting that I can't go but you can only do so much," said Saffire, winner of the Williamsville's Coaches' Award last fall. "But it was really cool to compete at sectionals. Most people don't have the opportunity to play at a high competition after one year."

Williamsville North's Caitlin Curry also advanced, taking sixth with a score of 127. The top nine qualify for the state meet. Williamsville South's Katie Darnley also competed at sectionals, taking 13th. Williamsville East's Emily Williams and Lauren Latona qualified for sectionals but did not compete.

A Section VI girls golf championship is a dream come true for Williamsville coach Betsy Ulmer, who six years ago founded the WNYPGA Junior Girls Golf Tour with the intent of having enough girls join to push public high schools into having girls golf teams separate from the boys teams.

She also made the initial call to Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association Executive Director Brian Kiszewski to see if he was interested in having the ECIC play against the Monsignor Martin Association. Kiszewski then met with Ulmer and Dr. Jim Rusin, Williamsville District athletic director and now girls golf chairman, who also showed interest. The two sides agreed to make it happen.

"The girls were absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to have a varsity girls golf team totally separate from the boys, which I think shows the growth of the sport," said Ulmer. "It's extremely intimidating to have the girls tee it up with the boys."

Williamsville, which finished 3-3 last fall in non-league matches with the MMA, competed at sectionals with Southern Tier schools Southwestern, which fielded the section champion, senior Ona Peck (96), Fredonia, which in addition to Pagano's third, had the runner-up, eighth-grader Jennifer Ringler (104), and eighth-place finisher, Jessica Valvo (131), and Dunkirk, which qualified three girls for states (Madison Crane, fifth, 113; Teresa Samuelson, seventh, 128; and Rebecca Catalano, ninth, 132).

To qualify for sectionals, golfers must have played in least six sanctioned matches and the team must be approved by their respective school boards.

"We're kind of embracing this as a player development program and in the next five years we hope to field a team from each of the three Williamsville schools," said Ulmer.

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