Peters Township golf coaches are father-daughter duo
David Kuhn has guided the Peters Township boys golf team to six WPIAL championships and a state title in 2023, but Monday’s Jerry Roman Memorial Chairman’s Cup at Cedarbrook Golf Course ranks high on his list of favorite moments.
That’s because it was the first time he had his daughter, Synclaire, beside him as a coach for the first time.
Synclaire (Kuhn) Stroyne has taken over as the new coach of the Peters Township girls golf team, meaning the Indians’ golf coaches are now a father-daughter duo.
The boys and girls won the Chairman’s Cup team titles, making it a Peters Township sweep.
“It was a special day,” Kuhn said. “It was my daughter’s first day as the girls coach, so it was a pretty cool thing to see her take over and for them to win along side us was really neat. It was a highlight of my coaching career.”
Stroyne took over for Mike Lacey, who retired after guiding the Peters Township girls to four consecutive WPIAL Class 3A championships and state titles in 2023 and ’24.
Stroyne, who’s a physician’s assistant in labor and delivery at Jefferson Hospital, felt it was the right time to join her father in the coaching ranks after a successful playing career at Peters Township and Saint Francis.
“We knew (Lacey) was thinking about retiring and my dad brought it up to me and asked if it was something I’d want to do and it was something that I wanted to do,” Stroyne said. “I had worked with a lot of my dad’s junior golf programs, so I’ve coached in different manners, just not in a high school setting. I got married earlier this year and my husband and I moved back to Peters, so it was kind of a perfect storm to make it work.”
Peters Township graduated one of the top WPIAL golfers in recent years, Ellie Benson, who’s now at Gardner-Webb.
Betty Glyptis, who placed second in the WPIAL Class 3A championship last year, is the top returner as a senior.
Other key players are senior Olivia Onrejko, sophomore Autumn Merck and freshmen Josie Jeglinski and Annie Higgins.
Stroyne was once in their shoes as a player and her dad was her coach. Now she’ll do her best to pass on the lessons learned to her players.
“I’ve been a student of my dad my entire life,” Stroyne said. “He’s always been my swing coach. My mom (Barbara) was the girls coach back in the day too, so I’ve always been around it. Something they both did was inspire kids to not give up and encourage them to be well-rounded good people on and off the golf course. Those things are very important to me. Obviously winning is at the top of everyone’s list, but I feel like a successful program is a lot more than just the trophies on the shelf.”
The Peters Township boys team is seemingly poised for a big season again. They are perennial contenders, but with five of the top six from last year’s team returning, they are experienced and in prime shape to keep the tradition going.
Camden Reyes headlines the returners. Reyes won the WPGA Junior Championship this summer at the Westmoreland Country Club.
“He had a really good summer and he just competed last week on the Williamson Cup team for the WPGA in New Jersey,” Kuhn said. “He’s our top returning player from last year, but the interesting thing about our program is there’s a lot of competition. That’s something our players need to navigate and Camden is no exception to that.”
Reyes is one of only two local returning players that qualified for the WPIAL Class 3A individual championship. The other is Trinity’s Lucas Daniels, who qualified as a freshman.
Other returners for the Indians include: Caden Benson, Tyler Ondrejko, Jackson Baxter, Kaden Holleran and John Blackwell. Holleran had the lowest score for Peters Township at the Chairman’s Cup with a round of 74.
“We have a solid group that’s very indicative of our program,” Kuhn said. “We tend to be able to reload effectively and not have to completely rebuild. I think that’s the hallmark of our program over the last 20-plus years. We always want to give ourselves an opportunity to be in the conversation.”
High school golf is in full swing. The first day of section play was Monday.
South Fayette is the defending WPIAL Class 3A boys champion, but graduated top golfers Sam Bishop and Brady Newman.
The Lions do have a couple of strong returners in Hudson Vennum and Will Scanlon. Vennum placed second in the Chairman’s Cup individual standings, shooting 73.
Local boys golfers who qualified for WPIAL’s in Class 2A that return from last year are Avella senior Jordan Davis, Charleroi junior Levi Large and Waynesburg junior Jarett Trentinik.
Aside from Glyptis, other returning WPIAL Class 3A girls qualifiers are Canon-McMillan sophomore Jordyn Larkin, Trinity junior Izzy Lesako and South Fayette teammates Emma Nickolas, a sophomore and Olivia Valentino, a junior.
A pair of WPIAL Class 2A girls qualifiers return in Chartiers-Houston junior Jojo Jaskulski and Belle Vernon junior Sydney Stark.
Jaskulski was the Class 2A runner-up, which qualified her for states, where she finished in a tie for 10th.
Along with South Fayette and Peters Township, Belle Vernon, Canon-McMillan and Trinity qualified for the team playoffs in Class 3A last season.
In Class 2A, Chartiers-Houston, Jefferson-Morgan and Waynesburg made the team playoffs.