It was a relatively rough day at the Central Section championships for the Clovis West High girls golf team, which encountered much faster greens than the last time it played at Tulare Golf Course in August and much high scores than the last time it played competitively a week ago during the North Area championships at Madera Municipal Golf Course.
Yet the Golden Eagles still rolled to a fourth straight title, with their 404 strokes still 15 better than second-place Frontier.
This team is that good. Clovis West dominates even when shooting 26 more strokes collectively than a week earlier.
Now comes the real challenge: Can this team -- led by four four-year starters in Asia Adell, Morgan Thomas, Alison Ross and Jamie Thomas -- take the next step?
For three straight years, the Golden Eagles' season has come to an end at the Southern California Championships, finishing 10th, seventh and seventh respectively. A top-three finish is needed to advance. This year's SoCal meet is set for Nov. 16 at the SCGA Golf Course in Murrieta.
Adell, Thomas, Ross, Thomas and new starters Alyssa Orito and Camille Orito want more than that this year. They want to extend their season to the State Championships, scheduled for Nov. 19 at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
If Clovis West is going to advance that far, this is the year to do it with a seasoned and talented lineup top to bottom.
"All of the girls have developed a great work ethic and learned a lot of discipline," Golden Eagles coach Ken Shipley said. "Golf is all about good breaks and bad breaks, and when they get a bad one, they don't panic. The thing I'm most proud of is the improvement. They just keep getting better."
Read my recap of the Central Section golf championships in Wednesday's Bee or online at www.fresnobee.com.
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