As a member of the Northwestern golf team that advanced to last year's district tournament, Zack Caruso had the opportunity to participate on the district stage against the area's best golfers.

With a number of those top Tiger golfers graduated, Carruso made his own name for himself in his final high school season. The senior qualified for Monday's District 11 Golf Championships by shooting an 89 at last week's district-qualifying round at Mahoning Valley Country Club.

His round at districts may have not lived up to his plan as Caruso shot a 23-over par 95 on Monday at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, good enough for 20th place amongst Class AA competition.

"I couldn't exactly figure out what I was doing wrong," Caruso said. "Once I came to the back nine, I got a boost of confidence. I threw up a birdie, and got that boost of confidence to end well."

Caruso improved nine strokes from last year's round of 104 that he shot in districts at Blue Ridge Country Club. He has made steady improvements every season, particularly in his senior camaign.

"I'm definitely pleased with how I started and finished off my senior year," Caruso said.

Many of the golfers had an opportunity to play Shawnee's course in the upcoming days prior to districts. Caruso, however, wasn't as fortunate.

That unfamiliarity with the course may have had a part to do with Caruso's round. However, after a rough start on the front nine holes on the Blue Course, he finished by shooting a solid, 4-over par on the last nine on the Red Course.

"I did not play the course at all because they were all booked out when I tried to come up and play," Caruso said. "It wasn't like it was a difficult course, I just wasn't on my game today.

"The course at qualifiers was difficult. This course wasn't even close to being compared to that."

Bethlehem Catholic's Nick Maff won gold in Class AA with a 2-over par round of 74, just two weeks after capturing the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) championship. Franca Hurtado of Central Catholic shot an 84 to lead Class AA girls and earn one of the two regional qualifier positions.

In Class AAA, Northampton's Carter Test (1-over par 73) and Emmaus' Sam Fritzinger (75) won the boys and girls championships, respectively.

In the team competition, Emmaus won the Class AAA tournament with a total round of 315. Moravian Academy shot a 323 to run away with the Class AA championship, 48 strokes in front of Mahanoy Area.

A total of six boys from AAA and four boys from AA advanced to regionals. Three girls in AAA and two in AA moved on, as well as the team champions.