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Young team leads GHS varsity girls’ golf
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Photo by Kerensa Uyeta-Buckley
Riley Sexton watches her shot fly on the green.
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By Kerensa Uyeta-Buckley
Herald Sports
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This season will be one of transition for Galt High School girls’ golf, which has just one senior player in addition to a team of several juniors and a large group of underclassmen.
The Lady Warriors, led by returning head coach Janice Williams, have sophomore Riley Sexton as their number one player, and junior Brittany Hamrick as their number two player.
Other players include a handful of returning players as well as new players ranging in grade level from freshmen to one senior who played for the Lady Warriors several years ago before returning this year.
The team has 14 players, and lost several, including Tori Tamura, who moved to Elk Grove High School, and another golfer who did not try out.
“We have to get these kids to the level that they’re at and we just have to keep working at it. I think the kids from last year realize how important it is that they have to keep playing,” Williams said Thursday.
Williams ran an informal golf clinic over the summer with some of her players in an effort to help players keep their skills up to date.
“Every Tuesday over the summer, we had a clinic and the kids could come out free of charge. We let them play, watched what they were doing and helped them out a little,” Williams said.
“Our goal is to get the younger kids learning all the fundamentals because they’re the ones that are going to start building our program and helping out, like Brittany and Riley. They’re my top two players right now and they’re only a sophomore and a junior,” Williams said.
As a result of watching their technique and helping out, Williams said that she has noticed a difference between the players who worked on their game and those who did not.
“Some of our freshman came to those (clinics) and you could see that when they started, they were a little bit better than some of our kids from last year that didn’t pick a club up,” Williams said.
The Lady Warriors will play three 18 hole tournaments as well as dual matches.
The Sierra Valley Conference season starts Sept. 17 against Ponderosa and continues on with matches played either back-to-back or every few days.
The girls will be able to practice with Williams’ son and his wife, who are both assistant coaches this season for Galt and will be working with players when Williams takes teammates to matches.
Williams’ daughter-in-law was on the first girls’ golf team at Galt and played for Williams her senior year before going on to play at Sacramento City College.
Galt 245 defeated Florin 333 Thursday in their first meeting of the season.
Riley Sexton led the Lady Warriors at Florin with her score of 42, Brittany Hamrick scored 44, Alex Hohn scored 50, Amber Garcia scored 54, Lauren Baglietto scored 55, and Michelle Poore scored 60.
Galt participated in the seventh annual Dixon Invitational golf tournament at Yolo Fliers Club and took sixth place out of 14 teams.
Sexton led the Lady Warriors with her score of 78, Hamrick 90, Jodie Virtue 109, Willie Douglas 113, Amber Garcia 118, and Kristen Furey scored 144.
On Aug. 28, the team traveled to Davis, at the Wildhorse golf club in which Galt 256 defeated Dixon 264.
“The weather was a hot 105 degrees and the girls did a great job on the course,” Williams said. “This was great for the girls to get a win in our first match of the year.”
Sexton, a 10th grader, was low with a score of 41; Hamrick, an 11th grader, scored 46; Willie Douglas, an 11th grader, scored 54; Amber Garcia, a ninth grader, scored 55; Hohn, a 10th grader, scored 60; and Katie Carpenter, a ninth grader, scored 64.
“Our golf team has a lot of young players and looking forward to improving in practices and on the course. Yesterday, for the match the following girls participated not only on the course but battling the heat,” Williams said.
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