June 07, 2006

West Chester sophomore captures 21st Collegiate Shootout title

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Dominic Frassinelli of Allentown, a sophomore at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, won the 21st Edward P. Zemprelli Collegiate Shootout held Wednesday at the Hershey Golf Club.

Frassinelli shot a one-under par 70 on the East Course, besting Tom Will of Erie, a junior at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, by a single stroke. Michael Schmidt of Palmyra, a junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, finished third at 74.

The Collegiate Shootout is held each year as a prelude to the Bob Burgess-Thomas McCormac charity golf outing. Nearly 300 golfers participate in the charity portion of the event, which this year raised money to benefit the Pennsylvania State University’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The annual event has raised more than $2 million for various charitable organizations since its inception in 1985.

The collegiate golfers – who this year represented eight Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities and Pennsylvania State University – annually compete for $6,000 in scholarships for their schools. Participants play one 18-hole round under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. The top three finishers receive prizes worth $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 that go to the general scholarship funds of their schools.

Frassinelli’s score was one stroke off the Collegiate Shootout record of 69 shot in 2002 by Matt Guyton, then a freshman at Clarion University. Guyton went on to win three straight shootouts.

Also participating this year were Brittany Fisher of Easton, a freshman at Pennsylvania State University; Corey Gast of Lancaster, a sophomore at Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Anthony Lent of California, a junior at California University of Pennsylvania; Trey M. Mallicone of Uniontown, a sophomore at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania; Angela Petak of Brockway, a sophomore at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania; and Eric Shaffer of Conneautville, a junior at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

The Burgess-McCormac charity golf outing began as a memorial to Bob Burgess, a government relations specialist for Beneficial Financial Management. He and a daughter, Pamela, died in an automobile accident in 1983. The event was renamed in 2002 to also memorialize Thomas McCormac, a government relations specialist with Pugliese Associates and former chief of staff for now state House Speaker John Perzel. McCormac died in an automobile accident in 2001.

In addition to the three scholarships for which the student golfers compete, The Burgess-McCormac Memorial Foundation, which operates the event, also contributes a separate $3,000 scholarship each year to Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, where Pamela Burgess had been a student.

With more than 107,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 405,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.