Local teams looking to make run at playoffs

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan

GLENDALE -- As a 15-year-old pacing the golf courses at the Oakmont

and Brookside Country Clubs, Crescenta Valley High girls’ golfer Jane

Park will be in an unfamiliar setting.

There won’t be hundreds of people watching her tee off.

There won’t be cameras in front of her as she walks down the fairway.

And there won’t be tremendous pressure to play flawless golf, because

she won’t be facing the best junior golfers in the United States.

Park, who advanced to the Sweet 16 of the U.S. Girls’ Junior

Championships at Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Kan., will

join eight teammates in the third year of the Falcon girls’ golf program.

Even though Park is only a freshman, CV Coach John Pehar doesn’t

downplay the fact she will lead a freelance Falcon team, still in search

of a league and its first appearance in CIF playoffs.

“A player her caliber could be very intimating,” Pehar said.

“Everything about her play is positive.

“She is just an excellent player. Not only does she bring to the team

her score, but the other players are going to want to improve. It gives

everybody the incentive to try that much harder.”

But Pehar realizes it will take a lot more than Park’s high scores to

win matches and advance to the postseason.

Developing better knowledge of the sport in the short-run will be

vital for Pehar as he looks toward Marissa Nausha and Christine Corbett

to elevate their play beyond last season, when CV finished 4-12.

“We just don’t have the experience some other programs have,” Pehar

said.

Unlike other CV athletic programs, Pehar’s team doesn’t have the

opportunity to compete in a league with inter-city rivals Hoover and

Glendale.

“It would be nice to have some competition in league and the area,”

Pehar said. “We haven’t been ready to join a league yet. Unfortunately

there isn’t a league close to home. Not enough girls are willing to

join.”

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy on the other hand still has some

unanswered questions.

First-year Coach Jeff Tobias, who coached the Tolog girls’ golf

program in their first year of existence, replaces Dustin Schilling.

Tobias will hold tryouts this week and get accustomed to his players.

“I’ll be honest, I’m mostly doing it as a help to the school,” Tobias

said. “It’s convenient for me to at least give them professional

instructions, as opposed to a teacher being a chaperon.”

A QUICK GLANCE AT THE GIRLS’ GOLF TEAMS

CRESCENTA VALLEY

COACH: John Pehar, third year.

LEAGUE: Freelance.

LAST SEASON: 4-12. Did not qualify for the playoffs.

GOLFERS TO WATCH: Marissa Nausha, senior, Christine Corbett, junior,

Jane Park, freshman.

PEHAR’S QUOTE: “As a coach my job is to teach them good course

management and the rules.”

FLINTRIDGE PREP

COACH: Bob Laughrie, first year

LEAGUE: Freelance LAST SEASON: Did not field a team.

GOLFERS TO WATCH: Katie Vane, sophomore, Robin Vane, sophomore.

LAUGHRIE’S QUOTE: “[This year] is a win-win situation. Who knows what

will happen once things get going.”

FLINTRIDGE SACRED HEART ACADEMY

COACH: Jeff Tobias, first year.

LEAGUE: Mission

LAST SEASON: n/a.

GOLFERS TO WATCH: Emily Washington, senior, Samantha Novitski, senior,

Emily Earhart, senior, Jessie Gilbert, junior.

TOBIAS’ QUOTE: “I’m taking this year as a building year.”