Foothill League girls golf heating up
Prep golf: Valencia looking to repeat as league champs behind Ashley Song and Sung Park, while West Ranch’s Eunice Yi is close behind in 3rd
The Foothill League varsity girls golf season is in its fourth week and some of the best young female golfers in the area are putting on a show, but Santa Clarita Valley high schools are standing out above the rest.
West Ranch and Valencia are battling for the top team spot in the league. The Wildcats won last week’s Foothill League meet, the third of the season, but the Vikings maintained the top spot in league with an overall score of 423.
Valencia won last year’s team title, disrupting West Ranch’s four-year championship streak. The Vikings also return their entire lineup from last season, giving them an edge in the battle for this season’s title.
“To win league would be a nice thing, but really all of us just want to put our best scores forward and to personally do as well as we can,” said Vikings golfer Jackie Rendall. “Not only is golf a team sport but it is an individual sport, so we want to improve upon our scores last year, and it’ll be good to bring home a league title again.”
Valencia’s Ashley Song is one of the top individual performers so far this season. She’s claimed medalist honors two times this season: in the second and third league meets of the season.
Song finished second in the individual standings last season and has taken a little time to get into a groove, but has proven that she’s gotten into the swing of things.
“I think it does take a couple of matches to kind of get in the zone and find a rhythm of, like, figuring out what time to get there and how long I have to warm up for,” she said. “It’s nice because we already know a lot of the people from the other teams, so a lot of our groups, it’s fun to play with the people that are in league.”
Ashley is in first in the individual standings with a total score of 111. Behind her is teammate Sung Park at 114 and in third is West Ranch’s Eunice Yi.
Yi, a freshman, finished as runner-up in the first league meet of the season on Sept. 3. She was also runner-up in meet No. 3 and played in the same group as Song.
“That definitely gave me more incentive to put more work into my game,” Song said of competing against Yi.
The prep girls golf season continues today with the fourth Foothill League meet of the season. Start time is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Hansen Dam Golf Course in Pacoima.