APTOS — Experienced, deep and skilled, the Aptos High Mariners girl’s golf team is setting its sights on winning its fourth straight Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League team title.
Aptos is undefeated through three league matches and is expected to have reinforcements on the way with senior Amanda Fort, who won the SCCAL individual title and was named league M.V.P. last season, returning to the team soon.
“It would be great to win the championship and get it four years in a row — that’s pretty amazing — but we’re just going to try our best and see what happens,” said Aptos senior Megan Eldredge, who has been around for the three previous league championships and said she is coming into her final year free of any nervous tension.
Eldredge and fellow senior Gianna Marinshaw and juniors Sam Castaneda and Italia Riccabona have been guiding the team in the meanwhile. All four helped Aptos three-peat as SCCAL champion last season and they have all made drastic jumps in their games since the end of last season.
Eldredge and Marinshaw have both captured medalist honors in the early season, while Castaneda and Riccabona have started to shed strokes from their scores.
Those improvements did not happen by mistake.
All five members of the team gathered at least once a week during the summer to play a round of golf, hit balls in the driving range or work on their short game. It’s not only made them better golfers but it’s also brought them closer.
“We’re all just all smiles all the time and it makes our team feel like family,” said Marinshaw, who has made leaps in her short game despite a lingering shoulder injury. “It makes everything so much better. I feel like if you don’t have a good team then it’s not going to be a good year.”
Aptos co-head coaches Bill Tsudama and Tim Eldredge both said they were impressed with how much the quartet has improved over the break.
“They were ready for the season to begin, which was awesome,” Tsudama said. “Normally, when they come out in September, when school starts, it’s tough to get ready in two weeks. They’re all ahead.”
Aptos will compete against San Lorenzo Valley High, Scotts Valley High, Harbor High and Santa Cruz High in the SCCAL. Because the league still only has five teams competing, the Mariners can not advance to the Central Coast Section championships as a unit if they win the title — only champions of a league with at least six teams automatically advance.
Only the individual champion of the SCCAL will move on to CCS.
Last year, Fort won the title by four strokes to take the league’s lone CCS berth but Tsudama said several of his girls will be in the running this season.
“It’s so hard to tell because it’s so fluid,” Tsudama said. “Anything can happen at any time but everyone else seems to be playing well, as well.”
Watsonville High, North Monterey County High and Monte Vista Christian will all compete in the Monterey Bay League Pacific division.
N.M.C. is the defending MBL-Pacific division co-champion.
Watsonville, meanwhile, brought on a new coach in Steve Martin, who replaced Gary Yoro.
