St. Francis three-peats at NCGA/CIF Girls' Championship
St. Francis High School after another victory (NCGA)
SALINAS, Calif. — The Lancers made it a three-peat, while Sabrina Iqbal and Samantha Gong shared medalist honors.
St. Francis of Mountain View earned its third straight trip to the California Interscholastic Federation Girls’ Golf State Championship on Monday, posting a 49-over 409 in the rain, wind and cold at par-72 The Club at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas to win the CIF/NorCal Championships.
Finishing second in the Team portion was Daugherty Valley of San Ramon, who finished tied at 415 with Carondelet of Concord. Daugherty Valley claimed second place via the 6th players’ score, with Carondelet officially taking third. All three squads advanced to this year’s CIF State Championship, to be held Tuesday, Nov. 18 at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
With the victory, the Lancers joined St. Francis of Sacramento the only schools to capture three titles in a row. St. Francis of Sacramento, who’s won a record eight overall CIF/NorCal titles, won four straight in a span from 1999 to 2002 and another four straight from 2006 to 2009.
“The kids did a great job. They hung in there on a tough day,” said Lancers head coach Phil Marrone. “The other schools had me a little worried.”
St. Francis was led by a 74 from Bibilani Liu and a 78 by Maya Pugatch. Other Lancers scores were Reisha Savadetti (84), Valerie Wang (87), Jacqueline Sun (90) and Alina Feng (86).
Dougherty Valley got a 77 from Tiffany Cha and an 80 from Yoonhee Kim, while Carondelet saw Angela Bagasbas shoot 75 and Yealimi Noh shoot 78.
The two-time defending Junior Tour Girls’ Player of the Year and a sophomore at Pioneer of San Jose, Iqbal posted five birdies to go against five bogeys.
Gong, who played in the 2013 First Tee Open at Pebble Beach and attends st. Iganatius, had three birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey. The two were declared co-champions due to darkness. Due to rain, the morning part of the round was delayed nearly two hours.
The bad weather also gave 12 individuals a berth into State, rather than the normal nine. Joining Iqbal and Gong as those earning trips to Poppy Hills were Jessica Luo of Lynbrook (73), Lexi Perry of Oak Ridge and Miranda Wang of Amador Valley (77), Hailey White (Monte Vista) and Brooke Riley of East Union (78) and Angela Liu and Megan Yang of Lynbrook, Nicole Schroeder and Danielle Lozano of Rocklin and Courtney Clark of Oak Ridge, who all shot 79.