CV takes 14th place
GLENDALE — In a nutshell, the Crescenta Valley High boys’ golf team fell off the radar.
A lack of tournament experience might have been the main reason for that to happen, after the Falcons ruled the Pacific League the past four seasons with experienced athletes.
Crescenta Valley saw its season conclude Tuesday afternoon with a 14th-place finish at the CIF Southern Section Northern Team Divisional at scenic Soule Park Golf Club in Ojai.
The Falcons, who finished third in league this season behind Arcadia and Burbank, carded a 423 in the 17-team tournament that featured a field of 102 contestants. Powerhouse Westlake won the tournament with a 358, followed by Valencia (376) and Arcadia (378).
Westlake, Valencia and Arcadia will next compete in the CIF Team Championship Final, which will be held at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Rancho San Marcos Club in Santa Barbara.
Crescenta Valley received a two-over-par 74 from junior Michael Timpson, who finished with one birdie, 14 pars and three bogeys on the 6,750-yard course. No other Falcon came close to matching Timpson, something that hampered the young squad.
“We fell off the radar because of a lack of experience at tournament competition,” Crescenta Valley Coach John Pehar said. “They are very young and they’ve never competed at this level except for Timpson.
“They just don’t have a lot of amateur competition. The good thing is that they enjoyed competing and they saw a lot of good golfers out there.”
Collin Wheeler of West Ranch, which finished fourth in the competition with a 384, fired a 67 to earn medalist honors.
Crescenta Valley, which finished fifth at the Western Team Divisional last season at Montebello Golf Course, got an 85 from John Lee. It also received 87s from Jason Kim and Nigel Alandy and a 90 from Aaron Peskett.
Calabasas finished fifth (389) and Burbank took sixth (390). Burbank got 73s from Matt Kurihara and Jin Park.
Pehar said it would help the Falcons to start working on their respective games and possibly compete in at least one tournament during the summer.
“They need to improve with their games because Arcadia will get better next year and Burbank wasn’t too shabby [Tuesday],” said Pehar, whose squad finished 16-13 and 11-8 in league this season. “We had a couple of good matches this year, but they didn’t play their best [Tuesday] and it showed.”
