Watsonville marked off undefeated league season from its list of goals following another convincing victory on the golf course Wednesday afternoon.
The Wildcatz shot a team score of 269 to defeat both King City (304) and North Monterey County (310) at Salinas Fairways Golf Course in Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division play.
With the win, Watsonville finished with a perfect 14-0 record in league play for the 2025 regular season.
“It’s always hard to expect [a perfect record], but with our team and everyone that’s our support system, it’s pretty much a given to what we have,” said senior and four-year player Ava Jaurigi, who shot a 61 on the front nine holes.
Watsonville sophomore Olivia Sanchez shot a 48 to earn medalist honors, while teammate junior Daniella Rodriguez finished slightly behind by one stroke with a 49.
Other top ‘Catz finishers included sophomore Abigail Sanchez (52) and senior Jessie Arellano (59).
The ‘Catz now are aiming to win back-to-back PCAL Mission tournament championships after they captured the program’s first-ever title in 2024.
Jaugiri said it’s always a challenge to find a tightly knitted team of girls that work well together in pairs, but they somehow managed to figure it out.
Rodriguez added they’ve also been driven to work hard to defend their league crown.
“We were the first girls’ golf team in our entire school history to ever win championships,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like we’ve really put our mark here, especially on the team. It’s just been really cool.”
Watsonville head coach Nicole Kerr-Poole, 45, said she’s impressed how much time the entire team put in during the offseason.
She made sure the ‘Catz golfers received a free Youth on Course membership, which allowed them to play on a course for five dollars or less.
“Some coaches will play a variety of girls every year, but we’ve had a smaller team, and they’ve been pretty solid,” Kerr-Poole said. “We’ve had a solid five instead of one or two girls that are really solid.”
Kerr-Poole was NMC’s head coach from 2017-21, working with former longtime head coach Clyde Folk as a mentor coach.
Folk died in August 2021, and Kerr-Poole will often think of him while on the course.
“I try to bring the same passion he had to bring the love of golf to the high school students,” Kerr-Poole said.
Arellano said golf is a very self motivated sport. She mentioned they supported each other in order to keep moving forward and getting better on the course as the season progressed.
Arellano has also been part of the program for four years. She said there have been some solid groups in the past, but these past two seasons have been different—in a marvelous way.
“We just found younger classmen who are really good at this sport,” Arellano said. “And we all work really hard, as well.”
A pair of those underclassmen are the Sanchez twins, who immediately made an impact in Kerr-Poole’s first year at the helm.
“They thoroughly enjoy the game and helping others,” Kerr-Poole said.
So much so, Kerr-Poole has had to kindly remind the siblings to not give so much advice or even push carts for opposing players.
“It’s funny because that’s just their nature,” Kerr-Poole said.
It’s not the first time Watsonville has had a set of twins play for the program. Most recently it was Mariana and Isabel Lobato-Vicencio, who were members of the golf team from 2021-23.
Abigail Sanchez anticipated they’d do well in her second year with the team. Yet, the thought of finishing with an unblemished record was never in the books.
“I just focus on having fun and just having positive energy throughout the game,” she said. “And even if I do get a bad score on one of the holes, I still continue having good energy, and that’s what makes me push through getting the good scores I’ve been getting.”
So far, her biggest motivating factor is being able to support teammates by helping them improve, and living up to her goals.
Olivia Sanchez said she likes the bonding aspect, as well as the high school experience of being part of a team instead of competing in an individual sport.
“When we’re out golfing, it’s like we’re all connected even though we’re in separate groups,” she said. “But at the end, it’s so exciting to be able to say, ‘Hey, what’d you get?’”
Unlike the more popular sports on campus, Abigail Sanchez said golf is underrated and not too many of her classmates are aware the school has a team. One of her goals is to give the sport more exposure with hopes of getting more numbers on the team.
Kerr-Poole echoed her rising star, adding that she wants the program to continue growing and give her current players the acknowledgement they deserve.
“We want to get our banner up with our [championship] years,” she said. “But basically it’s more about the girls getting those lifelong skills, and having that lifelong activity and confidence change.”
