St. Francis wins Northern California Girls' High School Championship again
Bibilani Liu
SALINAS, Calif. (Nov. 10, 2014) — The Lancers grabbed their second title in a row, while a pair of players shared the individual title.
St. Francis of Mountain View earned its second straight trip to the California Interscholastic Federation Girls’ Golf State Championship, posting a 41-over 401 to win Monday’s CIF/NorCal Championships held at par-72 The Club at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas by seven strokes.
Finishing as runner-up was Dougherty Valley of San Ramon at 408, while Monte Vista of Danville placed third at 423. By finishing in the top three, both Dougherty Valley and Monte Vista also earned spots into the State Championship, to be held Nov. 18 at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga.
It was a historic win for St. Francis of Mountain View. The Lancers became the first school to win back-to-back titles since St. Francis of Sacramento (2008-2009) and joined St. Francis of Sacramento and Monte Vista of Danville as the only schools with multiple CIF/NorCal titles.
St. Francis of Sacramento has won a record nine overall CIF/NorCal titles, while Monte Vista of Danville went back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.Leading the way for the Lancers was Bibilani Liu and Maya Pugatch, who shot rounds of 75 and 76, respectively. The duo combined to card four birdies.
Other scores for St. Francis of Mountain View, a member of the West Catholic Athletic League, were Valerie Wang (80), Grace Chen (84) Jacqueline Sun (86) and Resiha Savadatti (86).Dougherty Valley made its charge thanks to a 2-under 70 from Yoonhee Kim, who would share medalist honors with Pioneer High freshman Sabrina Iqbal.
Both members of the Junior Tour of Northern California, Kim had four birdies with two bogeys. Iqbal, who earned 2014 JTNC Girls’ Player of the Year honors after a record setting eight win season, posted five birdies with three bogeys.
Other scores for Dougherty Valley (best five out of six) were Reini Lin (80), Tiffany Cha (84), Janica Ha (85) and Siobhan Sher (89).Monte Vista of Danville’s scores came from Hailey White (79), Ritida Nanda (83), Angela Zhang (85), Vanessa Giampaoli (88) and Paige Phillips (88).
Finishing fourth in the team competition at 430 was Gunn High. Fifth place went to Alameda at 435.
Altogether, nine individuals advanced to the State Championship. Joining Iqbal as individuals earning berths into the finals were Kathleen Scavo of Justin-Sienna (71), Brooke Riley of East Union (71), Anna Zhou of Gunn (72), Sydney Babiak of Bentley Upper School (75), Samantha Gong of St. Ignatius (76), Michelle Xie of Palo Alto (78), Lexi Perry of Oak Ridge (78) and Courtney Vogel of Woodland Christian (78).
Xie, who won the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach Pro-Junior title in 2013 playing with Champions Tour member Kirk Triplett, won last year’s CIF/NorCal individual title with an even-par 73 at Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club.