{"id":198605,"date":"2025-10-03T03:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198605\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T03:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:01:10","slug":"quick-study-alyssa-zhang-of-shady-side-academy-repeats-as-wpial-2a-golf-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198605\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick study Alyssa Zhang of Shady Side Academy repeats as WPIAL 2A golf champ"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Chris Harlan<\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 12:12 AM<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang watches her bunker shot onto the green on No. 18 during the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Chartiers Houston\u2019s JoJo Jaskulski watches her tee shot on No. 18 during the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Greensburg Central Catholic\u2019s Alayna Sawovy lines up her putt on No. 18 during the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Greensburg Central Catholic\u2019s Kennedy Kelly smiles with Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang after Zhang won the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang hugs Chartiers Houston\u2019s JoJo Jaskulski after winning the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang and Chartiers Houston\u2019s JoJo Jaskulski prepare to drive on No. 18 during the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang watches her tee shot on No. 18 during the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang watches her fairway shot on No. 17 during the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf championship on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Horner | TribLive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa Zhang smiles while receiving her gold medal after repeating as the WPIAL Class 2A girls golf champion on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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Alyssa Zhang needed to learn more about Sewickley Heights Golf Club with each shot she took Wednesday, and the Shady Side Academy sophomore was a quick study.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d passed up a practice round a couple of days earlier yet defended her WPIAL Class 2A title with a six-shot victory on a course she\u2019d never seen before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a math test to study for,\u201d said Zhang, who carded two birdies and six bogies to shoot a 6-over 78 in the final round and finish the 36-hole tournament at 7-over.<\/p>\n

Now a two-time champion, Zhang won her WPIAL titles in different ways. The young Shady Side phenom went from chasing down the final-round leader as a freshman to now being the one everyone chased.<\/p>\n

Expectations can also change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told by other people that I should win (last year),\u201d Zhang said. \u201cSean (Simmons), the athletic director, told me, \u2018You have to win (this year).\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhang started the final round with a six-shot lead and kept her opponents at bay by avoiding any serious trouble.<\/p>\n

She said her putting wasn\u2019t sharp \u2014 dashing a couple of eagle chances \u2014 but she blamed that largely on her work with the putter, not any unfamiliarity with the greens.<\/p>\n

Still, Zhang showed her resilience by shaking off those misses.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just has this natural calmness on the course,\u201d Shady Side Academy coach Betsy Thompson said. \u201cShe always thinks she did terribly when she\u2019s off the course, but she\u2019s calm when she\u2019s playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhang carded a 1-over 73 in the first round at Seven Oaks last week. This round, she bogeyed three of her first five holes and later four of her final six, which didn\u2019t meet her lofty expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was really rough,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cLast year was the opposite. The first day I played terribly and the second day I played well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chartiers-Houston sophomore JoJo Jaskulski was second (13-over) and Greensburg Central Catholic junior Kennedy Kelly placed third (22-over). The top nine finishers in Class 2A advanced to the PIAA championship.<\/p>\n

Also qualifying for states were Eden Christian\u2019s Pearl Lundgren (24-over), North Catholic\u2019s Riley Kontul (26-over), Greensburg Central Catholic\u2019s Alayna Stawovy (27-over), Quaker Valley\u2019s Makenna Kamnikar (31-over), Neshannock\u2019s Maddie Desanti (37-over) and Ligonier Valley\u2019s Addy Witcoski (41-over). Central Valley\u2019s Emma Mrkonja is the WPIAL alternate in 2A after losing a playoff to Witcoski.<\/p>\n

The PIAA championship is Oct. 20 at Penn State. Zhang placed third at states last year.<\/p>\n

Her putter wasn\u2019t cooperating Wednesday, but she showed her strength off the tee and in the fairway. She drove the green on the third hole \u2014 a 264-yard par 4 \u2014 and also had an eagle chance on No. 6 but settled for short birdie putts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, like, did not make a putt outside of a foot,\u201d said Zhang, maybe with a slight exaggeration. \u201cCombined, I might\u2019ve made 18 feet of putts (in 18 holes).\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of her game was still good enough to keep anyone from chasing her down.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is one of those rare players who has the ability to repeat her swing exactly every time,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cAs she said, putting is what she needs to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nTags: Chartiers-Houston<\/a>, Eden Christian<\/a>, Greensburg C.C.<\/a>, Ligonier Valley<\/a>, Neshannock<\/a>, Quaker Valley<\/a>, Shady Side Academy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By: Chris Harlan Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 12:12 AM Christopher Horner | TribLive Shady Side Academy\u2019s Alyssa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[75544,114620,427,114621,93414,4050,114622,114623,99322,75557,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-198605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-chartiers-houston","9":"tag-eden-christian","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-greensburg-c-c","12":"tag-high-school-golf","13":"tag-high-school-sports","14":"tag-ligonier-valley","15":"tag-neshannock","16":"tag-quaker-valley","17":"tag-shady-side-academy","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}