Liberty's Kevin Zakszeski stared down a birdie putt on hole 10 during last week's District 11 Golf Championships at Blue Ridge Country Club.

It wasn't any ordinary putt, however.

Compared to a par on hole 10 earlier on the day Tuesday, Zakszeski's birdie putt on that same hole hours later was in a playoff hole against Northampton's Tyler Smith. The winner would be awarded a sixth place finish in districts and the final regional spot.

Zakszeski connected on the birdie putt, and Smith's putt to advance the playoff to a second hole was just inches off the pin. He shot a 79 over the two-day tournament, as play was suspended on Monday afternoon due to severe weather conditions.

"I've been in very similar positions like that before," Zakszeski said. "I just expected that he was going to make that putt. I just had that mindset. I made the putt and did what I had to do.

"That putt was a little nerve-racking because I felt like I had to make it because the putt was kind of easy."

Zakszeski remained with the top of the pack with a solid day chipping and on the greens. A birdie and five pars through seven holes on Tuesday helped advance Zakszeski into regionals after failing to qualify for districts last year.

"I've been steady all year, right around mid-70s," Zakszeski said. "I knew I could do it. I just had to keep my head up, and not get negative about a bad score."

Freedom's Helen Hsu looked to repeat as district champion in 3A girls competition after winning last year. Hsu put together a solid tournament over the two days, but her score of 86 was two strokes behind champion Kelsey Patterson of Emmaus.

"I guess the expectation was to win," Hsu said. "But mostly, I was really nervous that I wouldn't make it to regionals.

"I'm glad that I'm able to move on, but I'm not glad of how I played."

Hsu shot a 39 on the back nine holes, but a few miscues on her final three holes on Tuesday had a huge bearing on her chances of repeating. She had eight holes remaining on Tuesday, and recorded two double bogeys and a bogey on the last three.

"The first five holes were decent, but then it kind of fell apart," Hsu said of Tuesday's play. "But I'm happy for Kelsey [Patterson]. She improved a lot, and there's not other girl that I would rather lose to than her."

Tommy Archer shot an 83 and finished in a tie for 12th place for Freedom.

Last season's 3A boys champ, Bethlehem Cathoic's Nick Maff, shot a 77 and finished in fourth place. He'll be advancing to the regional tournament again this season.

"I'm really happy with my performance, [and] I'm glad I moved onto regionals," Maff said. "You can only do so much when the weather was that bad. I'm just glad I kept my head in it and came through."

Maff shot a four-over par through 11 holes on Monday, and shot a one-over par through seven on Tuesday. To go along with hitting seven fairways and nine greens, Maff had three birdies in the tournament.

"I was just trying to keep the ball in play because there were a lot of hazards," Maff said. "I was trying to keep the ball pretty good off the tee so I had good position coming at the greens."

Bethlehem Catholic had another regional-qualifier. Kiran Singh shot a 92 and finished in third place in 2A girls competition. JT Barker shot an 85 and finished in a tie for 16th place, and Zach Surovy came in 18th with an 86.

Northwestern Lehigh's Cole Miller shot a 73, and won the 2A boys competition in a one-hole playoff against Tamaqua's Michael Weintert. Central Catholic's Franca Hurtado won the 2A girls competition. Central Catholic also won the team championships.

Emmaus won the team championships in 3A competition, while Emmaus's Grant Schumaker outlasted Parkland's Chad Hess in the second hole of a playoff to win the title. Schumaker shot a 75 for the tournament.

The regional tournament took place on Tuesday which comes after Bethlehem Press deadlines. For more on the regional event, see next week's edition.