Troy cruises to victory at Rosary tournament

CHINO HILLS – The potential was there last year. Troy girls golf coach Jerry Cowgill saw it and so did all of the athletic directors in the Sierra League when the Warriors won every league match and swept the top six spots at the league finals.

Allison Lillie, Troy’s senior team captain, too had a feeling that this team could be really special, better than any she had been on at the school.

Everyone on the team she said realized that, and this past summer, the Warriors worked hareder than ever to improve.

The results are beginning to show. Only four girls playing in the Roasry Royal Shotgun posted scores in the 30s. Three of them played for No. 1 Troy, which posted a 192 on the front nine at Western Hills Country Club to win the tournament by 35 strokes. Foothill finished second with a 227 followed by Cypress which carded a 229.

Lillie earned medalist honors with an even-par 35, which put her one shot ahead of Edison’s Jennifer Yu.

“I finally have a player that can shoot par, and I haven’t had that before,” Cowgill said. “But everyone of them took it very seriously this summer. They consider themselves golfers now.”

Ysabelle Tran and Dana Henderson were the other two Warriors to break 40 on Tuesday, finishing with a 2-over 37 and a 4-over 39 respectively. The Warriors’ highest score in the tournament was a 41, giving them a 38.4 stroke average.

“We have three seniors on the team and they have pretty much played varsity all of their years here, so there is a lot of experience there,” Lillie said. “I am glad that we can take advantage of it.”

After the Warriors cruised through the Sierra League last season, Cowgill said the athletic directors told him that it might be time to find a new place for Troy to play. And it can’t be in the Freeway Legaue, which is home for every other athletic program at Troy because the Warriors are the only Freeway League school to field a girls golf team.

This season, the Warriors aren’t affiliated with a league, so Cowgill has put together one of the toughest schedules that Troy has had in some time, one that includes a match against No. 2 Santa Margarita at Haceinda Country Club on Thursday.

Cowgill wanted to get his team into pressure situations which the Warriors while playing in the Seirra League only had to deal with when the CIF tournament season began.

“I am trying to keep them under pressure as much as I can, so at the end they just don’t freak out,” Cowgill said.  

RESULTS

At Western Hills Country Club, par 35, Chino Hills

1. Troy, 192; 2. Foothill, 229; 3. Cypress 229; 4. Edison 236; 5. Roasry 273