Mustangs seek history again

Defending Class A state champion Northside Christian returns a talented core.

By BOB PUTNAM
Published August 17, 2005

Whitney Wenglasz decided last year to commute 90 minutes from Oldsmar to attend high school.

She did it to be a member of a winning team in a girls sport that few follow, that rates only agate type in some newspapers and no mention at all in others.

The golf at this level requires you to carry your own bag, look for your own ball in the rough and live for hugs and high fives.

And, giving her dream a dash of the preposterous, Wenglasz decided to fulfill her goal at Northside Christian, which had never won a state championship in golf.

It's not such a crazy dream anymore.

Wenglasz, then a freshman, along with middle-school phenom Dakoda Dowd, gave the Mustangs the depth they needed to compete with elite teams last year. Northside Christian put those numbers to good use, shooting 305-304-609 to win the Class A title at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie by 11 shots over second-place Saddlebrook.

It was only the second time the county had a girls golf team champion. Dunedin won the first in 1981.

"We knew what we had," Mustangs coach D.J. Jackson said. "But it's tough to tell when you get to the state tournament because you never know what's out there, especially at the Class A level with some of the boarding schools.

"What made this team was the amount of good players. In golf, you can't hide anybody. We have five that can shoot in the 70s."

All five have the swings, the maturity and the killer instinct to be dominant players. Danielle Jackson was the Times county golfer of the year. Wenglasz and Dowd joined her on the all-county first-team. Two teammates, Sophie Dembrowski and Morgan Jackson, were named second team.

Four of them are back.

The only one missing is Dowd, a home-schooled seventh-grader who is skipping the season to spend time at home while her mother battles breast cancer.

Her departure left a gaping hole on the depth chart.

After all, Dowd is destined to be a surefire star. Last year, she beat out older, college-bound players to win the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour's UF Junior Classic and consistently shot in the 70s for Northside during the postseason.

"We're going to miss her," Danielle Jackson said. "Not just her game, but her personality. She was always smiling and joking."

Replacing Dowd won't be easy, but the ultra-deep Mustangs are not sweating it that much. Ryan Ashburn, the No. 6 golfer last season, takes her place in the lineup.

"Ryan has really stepped up and takes some of the pressure away from the rest of us," Danielle said. "She's going to help a lot."

The key, though, will be Danielle. This summer, she qualified for the U.S. Girls Junior Championship, a tournament that has served as a training ground for future pros such as Nancy Lopez, Kelli Kuehne, Beth Bauer and Aree Song.

During her flight to Eagle, Idaho, for the tournament last month, Danielle sat next to Morgan Pressel, the top-ranked amateur in the country who gained prominence by tying for second at the U.S. Women's Open in June.

"(Morgan) helped me with my math homework," Danielle said. "I also asked her some things about golf. She said she was missing the first month of school competing in tournaments. I congratulated her on the U.S. Open and she said the experience was amazing. She really wanted to win."

At last year's Class A tournament, Pressel of Boca Raton St. Andrews did what no other prep golfer has done in the tournament's 57-year history.

She shot 10-under-par 62.

That, coupled with a first-day 66, set a two-day record of 128.

Pressel is a senior this year and it's uncertain whether she'll play at the high school level.

"In a way, I hope she doesn't because it kind of takes away the spotlight when she's there," D.J. Jackson said. "We won the team title last season and all anyone could talk about was her performance."

But if she does, her presence will not be enough to win a team title. That's because of Northside's depth.

"I think we have a chance to win again," Danielle said. "That's because we have a team."

The Mustangs are the class of a county that's turning out a stunning number of players. Other prodigies include Seminole's Megan Chapman and Rachel Edwards and Largo's Andrea Messer and Evan Jensen.

"I've never seen this much talent at the girls level in the county before," D.J. said. "It's amazing to see how many will sign with colleges in the next couple of years. I'm just glad a lot of that talent is at my school."

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:10:12]