Five Foothill League boys golfers entered. None came out.
The CIF Northern Individual tournament at River Ridge Victoria Lakes in Oxnard was not kind on Monday.
The top 20 golfers in the tournament advance to the CIF-Southern Section individual finals, with a cutoff at 2-over 74.
Jackson Bright (Valencia), Diego Renteria (West Ranch) and Jess Scheller (Hart) had the best scores out of all league golfers, with each carding a 4-over.
MORE GOLF: West Ranch’s Murray, Hart take Foothill boys golf title
West Ranch’s Gunnar Murray, the individual Foothill League champion, finished 5-over and Hart’s Art Thompson was 13-over.
Renteria said that being surrounded by some of the best young golfers in Southern California was one of the biggest benefits of the tournament.
“If you surround yourself with good players, it really brings the best out of your game and you know where you’re standing amongst the best,” said Renteria, a junior. “It’s a good measuring bar.”
Hart was the top team in league this year, followed by West Ranch and Valencia.
But competing on a bigger stage also brought the golfers who were once rivals through the regular season closer together.
“We’re rivalry schools, but we’re all golfers,” Renteria said. “Everyone is for themselves. Everyone wants to see each other from the Foothill League move on because it looks good for the whole valley. Everyone is rooting for each other.”
Renteria, who made it to the first round last season, is optimistic about the league’s representation in the postseason next year.
“I didn’t play as good as I wanted to, but I learned a lot of valuable lessons,” Renteria, who finished fifth in league, said. “Work hard this year and hopefully I can move on and go to state.”
