Despite a mid-season coaching change, the girls’ golf team ended its season ranked first in the Santa Clara Valley El Camino League with a 11-1 record, automatically qualifying for CCS.
On Nov. 4, the team traveled to Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey Bay to compete at CCS in an 18-hole tournament. Only the top six players — the travel team — participated: No. 1 player senior Millie Wang, No. 2 player freshman Julie Hu, No. 3 player freshman Sanjna Aswani, No. 4 player sophomore Simran Ahuja, No. 5 player junior Jacqueline Chico and No. 6 player senior Ruiyan Zhu.
Hu shot a 73, placing eighth — the lowest round for the team at CCS — but not enough to make the state tournament.
“I did better at CCS than League Finals, but I ranked higher at League Finals because CCS had a really strong playing field,” Hu said. “My hopes for CCS were to qualify for CIF NorCal States, but I was one shot away from it. Hopefully I’ll improve next year and qualify.”
While none of the players qualified for NorCas, the Falcons placed sixth out of 17 teams at CCS.
Previously on Oct. 28, the travel team headed to the Santa Teresa Golf Club for their league finals. As a team, the Falcons placed second overall; Monta Vista placed first. Notably, Wang shot a 72 to place fourth individually, and Hu followed closely as she shot a 75 to place sixth.
Next fall the girls’ golf team will lose four seniors to graduation and have to rebound with new players: Wang, Zhu, Stella Cho and Zoe Chiu.
Still, the players remain optimistic about next season, with a talented group of underclassmen ready to continue the team’s success.
“We’ve done really well this season as we have strong players and our travel team has really good chemistry,” Wang said. “[Next season, the underclassmen and juniors] will do a great job leading the team down a good route.”
