Larson falls short at Valley
Strathmore High School girls golfer Anushka Larson carded a 103 at the CIF Central Section Team and Individual Championship at River Island Country Club Monday and fell short of qualifying for the Southern California Regional Championship.
“She’s had a phenomenal season,” SHS head coach Norm Campbell said. “She improved every time she went out. Last week in Lemoore she shot an incredible round. Just an off day for her today. But as a freshman, qualifying and going to the second round is just an amazing thing.”
Larson qualified for the Valley championship after carding an 88 and placing third in the Central Area Girls Golf Championship at Lemoore Golf Course on Oct. 23. Campbell said that Larson continued to hold her own during the playoffs and unlike last week she was only a “little nervous” when she started off.
“She wasn’t really nervous this week, just couldn’t really find her groove today,” he said. “We’re going to try and get her focused on working her clubs like she knows how to work them. It just didn’t seem like it fell into place, which happens to a lot of golfers. But she’s an amazing young woman. She just came out here today and kept up with two seniors that were playing for our threesome. They were amazed that she was only a freshman. So it’s all good, it’s all positive. It’s all good to see.”
Larson is the first Strathmore girls golfer to qualify for the Valley championship since Corey Gil qualified as a sophomore in 1993. Gil was the first girls golfer in Spartans’ history and played with the boys team due to there being no girls team. Over the past two seasons, Gil led the Spartans’ boys golf team to back-to-back Division III championships, the first in school history.
“To be in the shadow of someone as great of a player as Corey is a lot for a freshman,” Campbell said. “So we’re excited. We know we’ll be back for the next three years. She’s just going to keep getting better.”
Talented golfers run in the Larson family, as Anushka’s older brother is two-time Socal Regional qualifier Jeeven Larson. Along with qualifying for Regionals as a freshman and sophomore, the junior was a member of two championship teams as well as the low medalist at the 2016 Division III championship and the runner-up in 2017. He was also the 2017 All-orange Belt Boys Golfer of the Year.