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Mustangs Think Positive After Region

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By ADAM ADKINS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

TAMPA - There wasn't much for Mitchell girls golf coach Joe Castellano to be unhappy about Monday.

Sure, when all was said and done, his Mustangs were on the outside looking in at the state tournament field as a result of their fifth-place finish in the Class 2A-Region 4 tournament at Heritage Isles. But a lot had been accomplished.

At the top of those tasks accomplished was watching his team put the disappointment from last week's district tournament, in which the Mustangs shot 416 as a team to finish as runners-up, behind them. That was done after all the Mustangs shot under their regular-season scoring averages, which helped them post a 369 team total Monday.

All in all, this was the first positive step toward next season, when three of his top five - sophomores Megan Van Etten, Victoria Kinney and Kristen Pitts - are set to return, giving Castellano reason for optimism about the future of Mitchell girls golf.

'We wanted to improve on last week. Obviously we weren't real happy with what we did last week at the district tournament,' Castellano said. 'All of them played under their averages, which is really great because this was the biggest stage that we were going to get to. They played their best golf when it mattered most, and that's all you can ask for.

'They're all just going to get better. It's a very positive outlook for next year. This whole year we just wanted to constantly improve throughout the year. We had one hiccup when we played Wesley Chapel; we played a terrible round that day. But they bounced back, they won their conference tournament by 20 shots, they played poorly at districts but then they played great Monday. So there's a lot of positives to build on for next year.'

Van Etten's round was very positive. She turned in the team's low round, firing a 6-over 78 to tie for fifth place overall.

'Nothing more than a bogey for me, so that was pretty good,' Van Etten said. 'I was pleased with what I had.'

Kinney also posted a top-20 finish with an 88, tied for 16th. Sarah Yarbrough (101), Rosemarie Quinones (102) and Pitts (120) rounded out the Mustangs' scorecard.

Gulf's Logan Bailey, an individual region qualifier, finished tied for 20th with an 80.

River Ridge's Kim Donato, also an individual region qualifier, shot a 93.
Van Etten also seemed excited about the future of Mitchell golf, and added she knows of one player who will join the team that should give the Mustangs another boost.

'My little sister Rebecca is coming up next year, so we're going to have a pretty good team next year, too,' Van Etten said.

Irish Qualify For 1A State Tournament

INVERNESS - Alexandra Irish's eyes were still smiling after she finished the Class 1A-Region 3 girls golf tournament Monday at Inverness Golf and Country Club.

Irish became the first Academy of the Lakes golfer to qualify individually for the 1A state tournament.

She shot 75 and finished in a three-way tie. Kristine Odaiyar of Ocala St. John's Lutheran School fired a par and a birdie to win the medalist honors in sudden-death overtime. Irish had two pars to take second.

'I'm happy,' Irish said. 'It's my third time going to state as an individual. It was great. I was hitting some crazy shot out of the woods. Somehow, it was meant to be. I had one birdie but a lot of pars.'

She played two other times in the state tournament as a member of Wharton's team.

Her coach is happy to head to Polk County next week for the state tournament.

'I am as proud as I can be,' Academy of the Lakes coach Kevin Crowley said. 'Those were two tough putts. We're going to state. How cool.'

Saddlebrook Prep finished second and advanced to state, but it wasn't pleased with its round.

Inverness Citrus made some public school history when it won its first regional golf title, beating Saddlebrook 330-332.

Saddlebrook's Leslie Choucard was fifth with a 78.

'I like the course,' she said. 'It was very interesting. Some holes are dogleg left and right. It is subtle. Some holes are confusing. I didn't know which club to hit. We could have been better.'

'We didn't play up to our ability,' Saddlebrook coach Mike Tali said. 'For us to beat Citrus, we were going to have to play our best golf. Obviously, we didn't get that from a couple of our experienced players. We did well enough to probably move on to state. That was our goal. We would have liked to have beaten Citrus on their home course.

'I don't think two of our girls putted very well out there. I think one of our girls three-putted five or six times. The other girl didn't putt real well. They are seven to eight shots over normal. If we had shot what we normally shot, we could have given Citrus a run.'

Larry Bugg

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