Palo Alto High became the first Northern California team to win the CIF State Girls High School Golf Championship in the 16-year history of the tournament, and Caroline Canales of Calabasas took home the individual title in windy, cold weather at Poppy Hills Golf Course www.poppyhillsgolf.com in Pebble Beach.
The Vikings, who have won the Central California Section Championship the last three seasons, finished with a score of 377, 22-over-par, followed by Troy of Fullerton at 386, Diamond Bar at 386, Granite Bay at 388, Dougherty Valley in San Ramon at 391 and Mater Dei of Santa Ana at 394.
“They wanted to go shopping,” said Palo Alto Coach Doyle Knight, who took his team to dinner at Chick-fil-A and then to the Gilroy Premium Outlet on the way home. “It was cute.
“Internally, as we went into it, I felt like we had a good chance, but I didn’t tell my girls that. I just wanted them to relax and enjoy the experience. It was cold and windy, so on the first tee the wind was coming right at the girls, right in their face, but they just played through it.”
Canales, a junior who won the Marmonte League individual title this season, claimed the state title by hitting 15-of-18 greens while carding a score of 1-under-par 70, followed by Sherilyn Vallanueva of Troy at 71.
“She gave herself a lot of looks at birdies,” Coach Lance Novak of Calabasas said.
Crista Izuzquiza of Coronado shot 73 to tie for third with Madelyn Gamble of Carondolet in Concord, Angelica Kusnowo of Diamond Bar, Katherine Song of Palo Alto, Tiffany Le of Walnut and Claire Chen of the Harker School in San Jose.
Jennifer Cai of Sage Hill in Newport Beach totaled 74 to tie for 10th with Anika Varma of Granite Bay and Montserrat Ramirez of Mater Dei.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion Palo Alto were Lauren Sung in a tie for 13th at 75, Priya Bakshi and Bridget O’Keefe in a tie for 18th at 76, Sydney Song in a tie for 23rd at 77, and Marina Mata in a tie for 48th at 84.
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