Looking to advance to the CIF Southern Section team finals for the first time since 2012, the varsity girls’ golf team came up short, finishing in 10th place at the CIF-SS Northern Division Team Finals for the second consecutive year, with a score of 453 for its top five golfers over 18 holes at the Soule Park Golf Course. Mission League champion Sherman Oaks Notre Dame won the competition by shooting 390, while Oaks Christian (whom the Wolverines defeated by six strokes in the regular season) put up 401 and Foothill scored 413 to take the last two advancing spots. Fellow Mission League foe Marlborough, whom the Wolverines defeated by seven strokes in the regular season, also shot 413 on Thursday, but lost the 3rd place spot to Foothill by having a worse sixth-place scorer.
Recent First-Team Mission League selections Karina Gou ’18 and Josie Baker ’18 led the way for Harvard-Westlake again; Gou shot two birdies on her way to an 85, and Baker was only a stroke off at 86. Lauren Song ’16 also had a solid day, taking third on the team by shooting 89 on the round. Chantalle Wang ’17 and Vivian Lin ’16 rounded off the five Wolverine scorers by putting up 95 and 98, respectively.
Head Coach Marge Chamberlain was supportive of her team, as she reflected: “Even though our team did not advance, we did well in the team regional, as our team total was way better than last year’s [487]. We are looking forward to having everyone back next year. We developed some great team spirit and guidelines that will propel us even further in the future.”
Earlier in the week, Baker was the lone Wolverine to compete in the CIF-SS Northern Division’s individual finals at River Ridge, where she shot 81 strokes for 18 holes to take 44th place out of 102 competitors. Only the top 36 were able to advance to the CIF-SS individual finals, as Baker was three shots off of the cut line.
After that round on Monday, Chamberlain wasn’t too disappointed, saying: “Josie drove the ball really well today. I think she only missed one fairway and didn’t have any double bogeys. She is growing not only in her golf skills, but also in decision making and maturity. She had some tough breaks on the course but stayed committed to her process.”
With heartbreaking results in both team and individual play, the Wolverines’ season is over in both facets. The team finished 7-1 overall and 6-1 in Mission League play, better than the 2013 team in both categories, but was not able to improve on its 10th place postseason result from 2013. Still, with no members of the team graduating this spring, the Wolverines will look to improve even further in the 2015 season.
More on the team finals can be read here: http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20141030/notre-dame-oaks-christian-high-school-golfers-show-poise-at-cif-divisional
