Plum’s Wes Lorish caps decorated high school career at PIAA golf tournament

By: Michael Love
Saturday, November 2, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Wes Lorish had high hopes for his final PIAA Class 3A individual championship tournament.

The Plum senior sought gold after losing out on the title in a tiebreaker last year.

But despite his best efforts, he was not able to get to where he wanted to be during the two-day event Oct. 21 and 22 at Penn State.

Lorish took 27th overall (1-over) in his third and final state event, shooting 71 on Day 1 and 74 on Day 2.

Fox Chapel sophomore Carson Kittsley captured the title at 8-under.

“For most people who play the game, they would be pretty happy with those scores,” Plum coach Keith Nonnenberg said. “But Wes is so talented, and his tie for first last year really set the bar high for this year. Anything less than that, he was going to be disappointed.

“He just had a hard time getting things going. The first day, he had a handful of putts that could’ve gone either way, and he just couldn’t put it in the bottom of the hole.”

Going into day two, Lorish knew he had to post a low score, Nonnenberg said. But he again had a hard time making birdies.

“After the first few holes, when you’re not making birdies, it forces you to get a little more aggressive off the tee, hitting driver when you don’t necessarily want to,” Nonnenberg said. “Then you’re getting real aggressive with your approach shots, and you go flag seeking at that point because you know you have to make birdies.

“But Wes being a three-time championship qualifier, making it in 10th, 11th and 12th grade, it’s something not a lot of kids can say they’ve done. He deserves to be proud of what he’s accomplished.”

Lorish entered the championship-tournament portion of the season on a roll after finishing the regular season 51 under par. One of the highlights of that run was a 33 on the front 9 at Oakmont Country Club.

“He didn’t have one round at or over par,” Nonnenberg said. “The regular season was about seven weeks, and to go that long without shooting an even-par round is incredible.

“I told Wes and his father that no golf coach has probably ever kept a statistic on what a player is to par in the regular season, but I would go out on a limb and say that it could be a state or possible national record for an individual player to be that much under par. He played some really tough courses this year and was so consistent with his play.”

Lorish qualified for states with a sixth-place finish (5-over) at WPIALs.

In addition to Lorish’s individual exploits this year, he, along with fellow senior Tim Pease, helped lead the Mustangs to a section championship and ultimately a third-place finish at the WPIAL Class 3A finals Oct. 10 at the Cedarbrook Gold Golf Course.

Plum carded a 399 team score in the finals with Lorish fronting the group at 1-under 71.

Nonnenberg said it was the best WPIAL finish for a Plum boys team since the 1969 team captured the second of back-to-back titles.

That 1969 team will be inducted into the Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 14.

“I would remiss if I didn’t give a lot of credit for this to Brian Dunaway who was these boys’ coach the past several years,” Nonnenberg said. “And also give credit to Pat McAfee who, through the We Are All Mustangs Here Fund, helped with the purchase of junior memberships to Willowbrook Golf Club. I think that this is that investment paying off.”

Pease, who also qualified for and competed at the WPIAL Class 3A individual golf championships this year, added a round of 79 in the team finals as Plum took third place behind champion North Allegheny (386) and runner-up South Fayette (389).

“Tim had a fantastic senior year,” Nonnenberg said. “His stroke average was right around 36.5. On many teams, that would make you the No. 1 player.

“Tim is a consummate team player. We had him paired up most of the year with a sophomore, Gavin Galket, and he was willing to take time out of his rounds to give Gavin advice on how to play a hole or where to hit a shot. I would often see them walking down fairways together talking golf.”

Nonnenberg also credited senior Chayce Urban for his efforts toward the team’s success this season.

Galket and juniors Tyler Pastor and Dany Caruso will be back to form next year’s core with junior Jonah Rush, the team’s No. 7 for a majority of the season.

“We have a really nice core of players coming back next year,” Nonnenberg said. “I expect Jonah to be an integral part of next year’s lineup, and there’s a handful of kids on the JV team who I think will step into the varsity lineup and be productive.

“I have high hopes for this team next year. Whether that is finishing as high as we did this year, I don’t know. I do think we will be able to battle for another section championship.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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