Vaqueros look to take it step further
Winning the Western State Conference championship for the first time proved to be quite a feat for the Glendale Community College women’s golf team. Now, it will attempt to accomplish something on a larger scale — qualifying for the California Community College Athletic Assn. Women’s Golf Championship.
Already in unchartered territory, Glendale college will have that opportunity when it begins play in the Southern California Regionals. The two-day, 36-hole event will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday at Twin Oaks Golf Course in San Marcos.
“It’s going to be very difficult to move on to state, so we will really have to be playing our best,” said Glendale Coach Greg Osbourne, who led the Vaqueros to the conference championship Monday and was named the conference’s coach of the year. “I tell our players that we have the best group and they have to believe it now.
“If we move on, then we get to state and have a great opportunity. If not, then we had a great year and we accomplished a lot.”
The six-team tournament will feature Glendale and College of the Canyons from the Western State Conference, defending state-champion Irvine Valley and Saddleback from the Orange Empire Conference and Palomar and San Jacinto from the Foothill Conference. The top two teams and top 12 individuals advance to the state tournament, which will be held Nov. 14-15 at Kings Country Club in Hanford.
The Vaqueros will field a team consisting of Pattraporn Silawanna, Vicanda Ma, Hannah Lee and Thanawan Sriratchaya.
Silawanna, who was named the conference’s player of the year after winning the conference’s individual championship at Olivas Links Golf Course in Ventura, said the Vaqueros will continue to ride the momentum they built during the second half of the season.
“We feel good about ourselves,” said Silawanna, who finished with a conference scoring average of 76. “The team is doing well and we know the course.”
The Vaqueros have had some success at Twin Oaks. They won a nine-team neutral site match pitting the Western State Conference against the Foothill Conference on Oct. 24. Silawanna carded an even-par 72 to share medalist honors with San Jacinto’s Tina Yang and help Glendale win the event by three strokes over Canyons.
Ma finished fourth in conference scoring average with a 77.29, followed by Lee (fifth, 77.43) and Sriratchaya (sixth, 78.14). The trio also earned all-conference accolades.
“I think it will help us having done well on that course,” said Osbourne, who guided the college’s men’s team to its inaugural appearance in the state match in May. “Our scores are going to have to be low to advance to state.”
Osbourne said the Vaqueros are scheduled to take a practice round today at the venue.
