Sophomore guides Wildcats to first title

By Times Staff
Published October 11, 2006

Girls 2a-11

RIVERVIEW - Shena Yang had two goals Tuesday and achieved both. The Wharton sophomore wanted to beat her score of 73 from last year's district meet and help her team win the championship.

She won medalist honors with 70 and the Wildcats captured their first district championship with 314; Durant (334) was runnerup.

Alexandria Iris finished second with 75, Michelle Bermudez (80) fourth and ninth-place Katherine Demick (89) rounded out scoring for the Wildcats.

Yang shot 33 on the front nine and added 37 in the back.

"I wanted to break 70, but I shot a couple of bogeys on the back nine," Yang said. "Our team worked hard for this. We will be encouraging each other all week in hopes of winning the regional meet next Monday."

Team captain Bermudez is the only starting senior for the Wildcats.

"Our team is very close," she said. "We help each other improve on finer points in practice and we play for the team by doing the best we can as individuals."

Bloomingdale scored 367 for a third-place finish and a team berth in regionals Monday at Rogers Park Golf Course in Tampa. The top three teams, plus the three low-score individuals not on a qualifying team earned berths.

East Bay's Julie Rolfe scored 82 (sixth overall) and Riverview's Christian Slater shot 92 (11th overall) to earn individual berths. Riverview's Heather Soldinger and Plant City's Dakota Baty tied with 93 for the third regional spot. Soldinger edged Baty on the first hole of a playoff.

- TERRY JONES, Times correspondent

Girls a-14 Terrapins cruise behind top medalists

TAMPA - Tampa Prep's freshman-senior duo of Kelsey Gibson and Christina Gray each shot tournament-low 77 to lead the Terrapins to their third district title in a row and a 338-369 victory over Newsome. Gibson took first overall after shooting par to Gray's bogey on the first playoff hole.

"I made no birdies. I made nothing worse than bogey," Gibson said. "I made five bogeys in a span of six holes, like bam, bam, bam. I didn't really understand it. I hit the ball great, which is the only reason I shot 77, because I was hitting a lot of greens."

Newsome senior Jenna Taylor was 1 over on the front nine and posted the day's only other sub-80 round to help the Wolves advance.

Berkeley Prep finished eight strokes behind Newsome (377) in third to qualify for the regional Monday at Tarpon Woods.

Academy's Marie Ciaravino (98) and Mary Milewski (99), and Tampa Catholic's Andrea Carollo (97) will advance as individual qualifiers.

Boys 2a-11 Tweak puts Tigers on the right course

TAMPA - Jesuit's Dylan Malafronte could tell something was awry with his swing during the first few holes on the Lakes course at The Eagles. So awry the junior was 6 over through the first five holes.

But after a minor change in technique, Malafronte breezed through the rest of the course, finishing the final 13 holes 6 under to post an even 72, the second-best round of the day, and help Jesuit to first place and a district championship.

"I fixed my swing a little bit," Malafronte said. "(By my sixth) hole, I figured out exactly what I was doing wrong. From there, I played well."

Malafronte's teammates Jack Twomey (74), Paul Crochet (75), Jack Compton (78) and Nick Leppert (78) all posted sub-80 rounds to give the Tigers a 299-308 victory over Newsome, led by Blue Kurtz's 73 and Brad Little's 74. Tampa Prep senior Matt Hebert won medalist honors with 4-under 68.

Jesuit and Newsome, along with Tampa Prep which finished a stroke behind the Wolves, advance to the regional at Tarpon Woods.

R.J. Campbell (74) and Charles Silverfield (82) from Berkeley Prep and Tommy Spitale (80) of Tampa Catholic also qualified individually.

- BRYAN BURNS, Times correspondent

[Last modified October 11, 2006, 06:27:39]