By Paisley Mangold and Camden Gjovik, editor in chief and staff writer

Senior Dylan Flinchbaugh will take his shot at a golf state title next week. He was one of the top four competitors to advance on Oct. 2 from the District 10 championship, earning the D-10 gold with 18-hole scores of 74 and 71 over the course of two days. 

This is Flinchbaugh’s first year competing at the state level. He narrowly missed qualifying in each of the past two seasons.

“It’s a huge accomplishment finally being able to qualify for states in my final year of high school,” Flinchbaugh said. 

Flinchbaugh tees off at 9:30 a.m. Monday along with competitors Josh Suto, Nick Ciocca and Will Gouveia at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York. Similar to the district competition, states will be played over a course of two days with 18 holes each. 

Flinchbaugh has been working hard to prepare for the tournament, spending extra time at the driving range and practicing on the course. The mental aspect of the competition is on his mind as well.

“Once you get to a point where you’re confident in yourself,” Flinchbaugh said, “it allows you to really play well.”

With regard to his own expectations for the tournament, Flinchbaugh is a realist. He noted that golf is a solo sport where it can be hard to recover from simple mistakes.  “My goal is to be able to make it into the top ten,” Flinchbaugh said. “But if that doesn’t happen, just to enjoy the overall experience.”