Lina Kwon
Staff Writer
It’s par-tee time for the Mira Costa girls golf team!
The Mustangs placed third in the three person division at the South Bay Girls Golf Classic Tournament at Los Amigos Golf Course on Friday. The top performers were freshman Juliae Shoda and juniors Angelica Bigler and Maggie Weller.
“The tournament helped the team establish where we are now and where we ultimately want to be,” coach Thomas Cox said.
The girls golf team played in three separate teams with six, three and three players, respectively. Costa competed against other schools such as Diamond Bar, Redondo Beach Union, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Troy, Mater Dei, and Warren High School. In the end, the Mustangs placed third with a total score of 268 and was only off by five strokes for first place. Troy won first place in the tournament by an overall score of 263.
“Troy High School was an undefeatable opponent,” Weller said. “I wasn’t expecting them to have such a strong team this year.”
Team one included varsity players Shani Waite, Klara Nagy, Delilah Gunn, Isabella Walker, Erica Skinner and Phoebe Gunn, and scored a total of 410 in its division. In order to compete in these tournaments, the team typically needs to shoot around 70 and Nagy managed to shoot 76, which was really impressive, according to Cox.
“Our team did well but we didn’t place because the competition was very hard to beat,” Nagy said. “I believe we tried as hard as we could and although the results aren’t that satisfying, we will continue to move forward.”
Team two consisted of the top scorers Shoda, Bigler and Weller and successfully kept a low score throughout the tournament. Shoda, the team’s key player, led the team with having the lowest score of 82. She was backed up by a score of 89 from Bigler and a score of 97 from Weller in the three person division.
“Juliae scored really well and was a major factor into why we placed,” Bigler said. “It was kind of upsetting winning third place because only a few strokes was the difference between first and third.”
Naomi Tsuang, Carmen Weiss and Ali Williams made up team three and their overall score was a 313. Even though they couldn’t place in the tournament, I’m proud of them for pushing through, said Cox.
“The girls in the third team gained some experience and learned a lot from the matches in the tournament,” Cox said. “I’m also proud of the fact that they competed against JV level teams.”
The Mustangs will next play against Santa Monica High School at Chester Washington Golf Course at 3 p.m. on September 15. The team is learning to become more competitive as each of these experiences, including the non-league matches like the one on the fifteenth, will help them improve, said Cox.
“Our goal of this season is to score a 400 as a team in the tournament,” Cox said. “I’m looking forward to seeing more improvements from the girls at today’s game and Thursday’s so that we can be fully prepared in two weeks for the Walnut tournament.”
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