South Torrance Lowest of the Low; Villa Park Third

Call it surprising. Call it unexpected. But make sure to also call it progress.

Led by a four-under-par 68 from medalist Kelsey Durkin, South Torrance shot a three-player total of 234 Monday at Temeku Hills in Temecula and won the Southern Section team championship by three shots over North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake.

Villa Park, led by Priscilla Park’s 71 and Shelly Raworth’s 76, shot a county-best 238 and finished third. Defending champion University, top-ranked in the county and considered a favorite to repeat, shot 242 and finished fourth.

But the story of the day was low scoring.

University shot 256 at Sandpiper to win the inaugural section championship last year, a total that would have gotten the Trojans fifth this year.

Perhaps a more telling sign was West Hills Chaminade, which shot 288 to finish last in the 15-team field. That score would have placed them eighth last season.

“I think this shows that the girls are getting better,” University Coach Patti Anduri said. “There was a lot of pressure on us to repeat, but look at those scores. There are some good teams out there.”

The Trojans rolled to a 17-0 regular-season record, shooting an average of 123 nine-hole score. A 247 last Tuesday was good enough for a 19-stroke South Regional victory.

But while University calmly toured the hilly 5,139-yard layout doing what it has done all season, other teams stepped forward with season-best rounds.

Among those, South Torrance, Harvard-Westlake and Villa Park.

Raworth, who rolled in a 30-foot putt on the 12th for one of her four birdies, said there were mixed emotions for the Spartans. It was the first time Villa Park, ranked No. 3 in the county, had finished ahead of No. 1 University in four tries this season.

“That was one of the things we wanted to do,” the Spartan junior said. “But we came here expecting to win.”

Spartan Coach Gordon Sutorius has been waiting all season for his team to shoot a round like Monday’s.

“All along I told the girls that they were all going to go low together,” Sutorius said. “I told them it would probably be in a big tournament.”

The Trojans were led by Angela Won’s 72 and an 80 by Sunny Lee.

Santa Margarita got a 78 from Megan Mulhaupt and an 86 from Brenda Progar to finish fifth at 258--a score that would have netted the Eagles second place last season.

Allison Schauppner shot 83 and Kristin McCoy shot 89 to pace Corona del Mar, which finished seventh at 262.