Frontier captures girls section golf title
| Tuesday, Nov 04 2008 01:14 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 02:18 PM
Images
Garces' Cassie Clayton gets out of a dirty situation, hitting out of a sand trap on the No. 13 on Monday at the Central Section girls team golf championships at Riverbend Golf Club in Madera. Clayton went on to birdie the hole.
Garces' Mica Guzman, right, lines up a shot on No. 11 while Tulare Western's Kodie Stafford does the same Monday at the Central Section girls team golf championships at Riverbend Golf Course in Madera.
Garces' Cassie Clayton powers a drive from No. 11 at the Central Section girls golf team championships Monday at Riverbend Golf Club in Madera.
MADERA — At first, Frontier's girls golf team glanced at the Riverbend Golf Club leaderboard, back at each other and back at the leaderboard, with widening smiles on their faces.
Then it was picture time with the FRONTIER sign they brought, and then a rousing round of "We are Fron-tier" chants broke out.
By the time the Titans were giggling with their Central Section championship plaque in front of their team scores, it became clear that they simply couldn't decide how to celebrate.
But who could blame them? Their school had never won a section title before Monday, when the girls golf team shot a season-low 414 to win the Division II title.
"We knew we had a really good chance of winning our division," Frontier freshman Meghan Shain said. "We just weren't sure about Division I. It was really unexpected."
As an added bonus, Frontier finished behind only Division I champion Clovis West (409) in the overall standings. That means the Titans are headed to the Southern Cal Regional Championships on Nov. 17.
"I knew I had a good round going after seven holes; I knew I just had to keep it going," Shain said. "Then I came in (to the clubhouse) and saw that we did really good."
Shain, a freshman, led the precocious Titans with a steady 76 that included just one birdie. But Frontier's strength was its depth. Jordanne Barr shot 80, Malea Miller 81, Cami Ullrich 88 and Tavia Rutherford 89. Freshman Taylor Shweiki also had a solid round of 90, but it didn't even count because Frontier had five better.
"Did we think 414 was possible?" asked Frontier coach Tony Bernardin, whose team shot 433 in the area tournament at a generally easier course. "I said last week we could shoot lower. How much lower is what was interesting."
On the flip side was Garces, which won the South Area title last week by 13 strokes over Frontier and had dominated every tournament it had been in thus far. The Rams stumbled to a 437 -- not bad, but behind Clovis West and Clovis East (423) in the Division I pecking order. Division II Kingsburg (436) also shot better. Stockdale, the other Kern County team competing, shot 474.
"All of the cylinders didn't fire today," Garces coach Keith Perkins said. "But that's golf. What can you say? I'm so proud of my girls."
Mica Guzman led the Rams with a 76, joining Shain, Clovis West's Asia Adell and Clovis East's Hannah Sodersten in second place. Kingsburg's Shaylee Yano was the low individual with a 72.
Yano's round doesn't count towards an individual section title, however. That will be decided next Monday at The Links at RiverLakes Ranch.
Guzman said she and four other Rams will look forward to that more familiar course to continue their postseason. This week, their putting on Riverbend's nasty greens betrayed them.
"The greens were really fast, and they put every single pin on a slope," Guzman said. "It was like miniature golf."
Frontier also has five individuals qualified for next week's tournament, but now the surprising Titans also have the regionals — which are at Canyon Crest Country Club in Riverside — to anticipate.
"It feels amazing," Shain said. "And it's good to know that we have such a young team right now that next year we're coming back with the same team. We could also do this again next year."
