Hempfield adds girls golf program

By: Paul Schofield
Monday, February 22, 2021 | 6:57 PM

Katie Miller won three PIAA titles and a WPIAL girls golf championship during her career at Hempfield .

Miller, who is married to Oakmont Country Club head professional Devin Gee, won state titles in 1999, 2000 and ‘02. She will be indicted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame this summer as part of the 2020 class.

Because the sport lacked interest among the girls, no team was formed and Miller played on Hempfield’s boys team. So did other female golfers from the district.

That ends starting in the fall as Hempfield will sponsor a girls team. The school board recently approved adding the program and is in the process of hiring a coach.

“It’s time,” Hempfield athletic director Brandon Rapp said. “We had 10 girls that were on the boys’ team this season, and we were able to get them a few exhibition matches. I expect now that we have a team, we’ll get more girls out for the team.”

The WPIAL placed Hempfield in a section with Indiana, Franklin Regional, Connellsville, Penn-Trafford, Norwin and Gateway.

Rapp said he’s unsure where the team will play their home matches. The team played matches in 2020 against Penn-Trafford and Greensburg Central Catholic.

“I know the girls that are returning are excited,” Rapp said. “This gives them a chance to compete for a title. It also gives girls more opportunities to compete for individual titles. When we didn’t have a team, we could only send one individual. Now we can send more.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Hempfield