CV takes 2nd place
Over the course of the first two Pacific League matches, second-year Crescenta Valley High girls’ golf Coach Lee Pope had seen steady improvement in his Falcons team.
The trend continued and Pope liked what he saw Monday afternoon after Crescenta Valley finished second in the third league match of the season with a 205 at Hansen Dam Golf Course in Pacoima.
“It’s our third 205 of the season and we’ve improved a lot from course to course,” said Pope, whose team improved to 13-8-1 overall and 8-7 in league for third place. “If we can keep doing that, then we can challenge Arcadia in the coming weeks.
“We still have to go out there and play our best for that to happen. Everything is starting to come together.”
Arcadia, the defending league champion, won the event with a 197 and improved to 15-0 in league. Burroughs carded a 208 to place third, followed by La Cañada (211), San Marino (224) and Burbank (237).
Burroughs is second in league at 11-4. La Cañada is 6-8-1 is 6-8-1 for fourth place, followed by San Marino (4-10-1) and Burbank (0-15).
Katherine Guo of Arcadia carded a one-under-par 35 to earn medalist honors. Melissa Leo of La Cañada fired a 36. Crescenta Valley’s Jocelyn Chia and Audrey Chung, Irene Maemura of Burbank and Burroughs’ Ravipa Losakul each finished with 37s.
Pope said Chia and Chung turned in quality performances to spark the Falcons, who also received a 40 from Deborah Chin, a 41 from Amy Park and a 50 from Yoojin Lee.
Chia, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Golfer of the Year, has averaged a 38 through her first three league matches.
“They were both solid and they are the type of players who make our league that much tougher,” said Pope, whose team placed third at the previous league match at Brookside Golf Course No. 2 in Pasadena after opening with a fifth-place finish at Alhambra Golf Course on Sept. 14. “With Jocelyn, we can count on anything from two-under to two-over consistently.
“Chung continues to be a very formidable player. That’s quite a good 1-2 punch to have out there.
“The future is bright for us. Now, we want to be able to improve that much more by shaving five or six shots off our team score each week. If we can do that, then we have a shot to challenge Arcadia. We have to be able to find a way and dig deep.”
Four players finished with 39s in the nine-hole event. They were Tiffany Gu of San Marino, Joany Gao of Burroughs and Arcadia’s Gwen Vahey and Kayla Yn.
The next league match will be held at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 4 at La Cañada Country Club.
“It’s going to probably be a tough course again,” Pope said.
