It took a better than average score from every player, but the Los Alamitos High girls golf team was able to edge out league rival Edison by one stroke to capture the CIF-SS Division 2 team championship last week at Jurupa Hills Country Club in Riverside.
The Griffins won the first-ever CIF-SS championship in girls golf with a 391-392 score to edge out the Chargers. Keira Cheng and Kylee Gregory, who have been the team’s most consistent top scorers for the team, again led the way. Cheng had a team-best score of 74, shooting just three over par for the course. Gregory was the next best scorer with a 78.
“All of the girls played pretty solid,” Head Coach John Haygood said.
It was the first time the Griffins had advanced as far as the CIF Finals since 2006 and it is the first CIF-SS Championship for the girls golf program at the school. The team had never played the course at Jurupa Hills, so not being familiar with it, presented additional challenges. Overall, Haygood said the team has a pretty good short game. The strategy focused on limiting mistakes. He impressed upon them to not try to do too much, in order to stay out of trouble. He said they talked about the idea that every stroke would be important. As it turned out, it was just one that made the difference.
Los Alamitos started its girls golf program in 1998. They have become a consistent league contender in the Surf League, the top league in the Sunset Conference. The boys program has won two CIF-SS titles. The girls now have their first.
“It was really nice to see the girls get that,” Haygood said.
CIF title match players include: Abby Sickles, Keira Cheng, Kylee Gregory, Andrea Camacho, Kate Younger, Sophia Tipton and Janelle Abbott.
