Hart Girls Tee Off First Season With Marvelous Success

Hart High, home to one of the top boys’ golf programs in the region in the 1990s, could field an equally strong girls’ team in the decade ahead if results from the first month of this season are an indication.

The Indians are 15-0 following a 111-137 nonleague victory over Burroughs at El Cariso Golf Course in Sylmar on Thursday and they defeated second-place Valencia by 44 strokes in the first Foothill League match of the season at Vista Valencia Golf Course on Tuesday.

Led by sophomore Sara Jones and senior Alexis Arnold, Hart has won its nonleague matches by an average of 26 strokes, its closest call coming in a 129-135 victory over Westlake at Westlake Village Golf Course on Sept. 22.

“The interest in the team has been tremendous,” Coach Renee Onori said of the first-year girls’ program. “We had about 20 girls show up for tryouts and we have 13 girls on the team right now.”

Arnold, who has received scholarship offers from Santa Clara, San Jose State and Cal State Sacramento, is the lone senior on a team that has no juniors.

Jones, who tied for ninth in the CIF-Women’s Southern California Golf Assn. championships at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta in June, leads the underclassmen.

She has been Hart’s No. 1 player in five of the Indians’ 10 matches this season, is averaging a team-leading 1.2 strokes above par per nine holes and shot a three-under-par 30 in the league match.

“She’s one of those players who’s just beautiful to watch,” Onori said. “She just swings the club so well.”

Arnold has been the Indians’ top player in three matches and tied Jones for first in two others.

She is averaging 2 1/2 strokes above par for nine holes and her best round was a one-under-par 32 against Valencia at Vista Valencia on Sept. 16.

Five other girls, led by sophomores Jennifer Parks and Erica Leary, have been Hart’s all-important third--and final--scoring player this season.

Parks and Leary each shot a season-best 47 in the league match to help Hart to a 12-over-par 111, and Onori said the team’s goal is to shoot 105 in the next two weeks.

“We’d like to have four girls [other than Jones and Arnold] who can consistently shoot in the [mid-40s] by the end of the season,” Onori said.

If Hart attains that goal, the Indians could be a title contender in the Southern Section championships in November, but Onori said the team isn’t looking that far ahead.

“We haven’t given any thought to [the section championships],” Onori said. “We’re still working on all the various aspects of our game. That’s our focus right now.”

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Coach Dennis Ford, who guided Hart’s boys’ team to a tie for fourth place in the CIF-SCGA championships in June and to a 199-0-1 record in Foothill League play this decade, is working with the girls’ team as an assistant.

“I couldn’t do this without Dennis,” Onori said. “He’s been a huge help to me.”

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While many girls’ teams have played eight to 10 matches so far this season, La Reina (3-1) has laid low.

The Regents played in only two matches in the first four weeks before playing twice last week.

They’ll open defense of their Tri-Valley League title with a match against Lompoc at Los Robles Golf Course in Thousand Oaks on Tuesday and play Nordhoff at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai on Thursday.

“We don’t want the kids missing a lot of school to play in matches at this stage of the season,” Coach Bob Sisco said. “I’d rather spend most of our time in practice at this point.”