The girls’ golf season has come to an end in the Santa Clarita Valley, and West Ranch freshman Aubrey Lee will get to call herself Foothill League champion after recording a 4-under-par round to claim the individual title in Tuesday’s final round.
Lee, who’s playing her first-ever season of high school golf, immediately made her presence felt in the Foothill League as the freshman from West Ranch snagged medalist honors following Tuesday’s round with a 32 (-4).
West Ranch coach Jeff Holen told The Signal that Lee’s season broke the school’s scoring record and she is not just one of the top golfers in Santa Clarita but throughout the Southern Section.
“Her league scoring average of 33.6 is definitely a West Ranch scoring record, and possibly, a Foothill League record,” Holen said. “She is currently ranked 13th in the Southern Section and more importantly, she is just a great young lady to have on the team.”
Lee ended the season with a total individual score of 204 and defeated teammate Zoe Greif, who finished the year in second, by 12 strokes.
The Wildcats also celebrated winning the team title as West Ranch claimed the Foothill League crown after losing in narrow fashion to the Valencia Vikings last season.
West Ranch secured first place with a total score of 1071 and defeated the second-place Vikings by 105 strokes.
Valencia team finished the season with a total score of 1176 with Kara An ending the year as the leading Viking with an individual season score of 219.
An, who’s committed to playing women’s collegiate golf at Clemson University, ended Tuesday’s final round with a 39 (+3). But in Tuesday’s final round, Ken Silva led all Valencia golfers with a final score of 37 (+1).
In third place of team play, the Saugus Centurions ended the season with a total score of 1444. And in Tuesday’s final round, the Centurions finished the year with a total score of 239 with Ruby Johnson leading all Saugus golfers on Tuesday with a 38 (+2).
In fourth place, the Golden Valley Grizzlies ended the season with a season-long score of 1317. And in Tuesday’s round, the Grizzlies shot a total team score of 272 with Kiehl Quila leading her team with a score of 52 (+16) on the scorecard.
The Hart Hawks claimed fifth place in the season team standings with a total score of 1384 and narrowly edged out the sixth-place Castaic Coyotes by 14 strokes for the season.
The Hawks ended Tuesday’s round with a total score of 261 with Regan Vaughn leading all Hawks with a score of 43 (+7). The Coyotes ended Tuesday’s round with a score of 279 with Addy Fractor leading all Coyotes with an individual score of 44 (+8).
As for Canyon, although the Cowboys finished with a season-long score of 845, the team ended the season in seventh place in the Foothill League standings with three rounds on the season with no official team score.
Despite the seventh-place finish, the Cowboys did report an official team score of 301 in Tuesday’s final round with Mady Morgan leading all Cowboys with an individual score of 50 (+14).
As for the playoffs, the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section only allows league champions to enter the postseason with an automatic playoff berth with teams that ended the year in second place eligible for an at-large bid.
While the Southern Section’s regional and individual tournament remains tentative regarding where teams and golfers will play, an updated number for entries and placement is set to be released on Monday.
As for Holen, until he finds out where his team will play, he’s looking forward to facing the Southern Section’s top competition as a team with his golfers also fighting for individual success.
“On the team end, we are looking to play in the Division 1 CIF Championship and finish within the top 10 so we can move onto the Southern California CIF qualifier,” he said. “On the individual end, I would love to have four of the five girls move on to the CIF individual championship.”
