‘Best of the lot’ in tradition-rich SI program

Of all the sports that St. Ignatius offers — and there are 26 of them — girls golf is one of its most successful.

Since their first season in 2002, the Wildcats have won 11 West Catholic Athletic League and five Central Coast Section titles and a Northern California championship, all under coach Julius Yap.

Six of his players have earned college scholarships, including Elaine Harris (Indiana), Alexandra Wong (Princeton) and Keiko Fukuda (Brown). Current senior Samantha

Gong might be “the best of the lot,” Yap said.

Gong became the first St. Ignatius player to claim at least part of a Northern California individual championship by tying Pioneer-San Jose’s Sabrina Iqbal on Monday for medalist honors at Crazy Horse Ranch golf club in Salinas.

Gong and Iqbal each shot even-par 72s to advance to Tuesday’s state tournament at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.

Winning a title is about the “only chapter she hasn’t written” Yap said of Gong, who finished eighth at state last season.

“As a coach, I could not have asked for a more dedicated athlete who time and time again has sacrificed her own needs for the needs of her team,” Yap said. “She’s been our captain the past two years and has incredible leadership qualities.”

Joining Gong in the state tournament will be WCALand NorCal-champion St. Francis, along with runnerup Dougherty Valley-San Ramon and Carondelet-Concord. Other Metro individuals to advance were Miranda

Wang (Amador Valley-Pleasanton) and Hailey White (Monte Vista-Danville).

On Wednesday, Gong signed a letter of intent to play golf at USF.

The Dons are “blessed to have such a fine young lady and terrific golfer coming to their program,” Yap said.

Another S.F. signing: Alexis Dirige became the first female volleyball player in Sacred Heart Cathedral history to get a Pac-12 scholarship when she signed with Washington State.

Dirige has 506 digs for the defending Division III state champion Irish (26-7), who are the second seed behind No. 1 Valley Christian (25-7) in the CCS Division III playoffs, which began Wednesday. SHC hosts the winner of the match between Capuchino-San Bruno and AragonSan Mateo on Saturday.

Dirige was one of 25 players on the MaxPreps preseason All-America team.

“She’s an awesome player — the best defensive player I’ve seen in all my years here,” SHC co-athletic director Jo Ann Momono said.

Considering the Irish usually have depended on defense and have won five Northern California titles, that’s a major compliment.

“She’s dynamite,” SHC coach Margi Beima said.

Signing party: Wednesday was early national letter of intent signing day for several sports and numerous schools had large events. Among the bigger ones was at De La Salle-Concord. The Spartans’ signees: Armani Smith (UCSB), Nick Sparks (St. Mary’s), Connor Redmond (Cal Poly), Conner Roberts (UCSB), Jordan Chriss (Columbia) in baseball; basketball’s Jordan Ratinho (USF), swimming’s Forrest White (Iowa), golf’s Josh McCarthy (Pepperdine), and lacrosse’s

Ben Allen (Marquette).