While girls high school golf teams continue to pop up here and there around the state, one local school hasn’t had any problems finding players to fill its roster.
With legendary, beloved coaches Bo Henning and Reggie Carney heading the golf program at East Brunswick High School, it’s easy to understand why there’s so much interest in playing for the Bears. While the East Brunswick boys are among the top teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference once again, after finishing 15-1 and 12-0 in Red Division play last year, the Bears’ girls program is also an impressive group once again.
“We’re one of the largest girls teams in the nation for the fourth year in a row,” said Carney, who as Henning’s assistant coaches the girls. “We have 18 girls on the roster, and have averaged between 18-20 the last four years.
“I think the No. 1 reason for the interest has got to be the physical education program here, where we teach golf,” Carney added. “Between myself, Bo, (track and field coach) Harry Myers and (head boys volleyball coach) Greg Rutz, any one of us is teaching golf in the spring or the fall. We’re able to see a kid that potentially has a real nice swing and try to introduce her to the sport.”
For the most part, the girls playing for East Brunswick are taking on the sport for the first time.
“We haven’t had any girls with real experience when they came to us,” Carney said. “But we give them the equal opportunity to play, and it has worked out great.”
Carney said that the sports popularity at East Brunswick is also a result of the students spreading the word about the program.
From 1999 to 2003, girls playing for East Brunswick were technically part of the boys team. That ended for one year, according to Carney, before the girls team was created in 2004.
The Lady Bears play a 14-match schedule this spring, playing teams from the surrounding area, including Old Bridge, South Brunswick, Montgomery, West Windsor, Princeton and Freehold Borough twice each. East Brunswick’s home course is Tamarack Country Club in East Brunswick, through they will on occasion play at
Raritan Landing, as they will Friday against Freehold Borough, when there are too many boys matches being held at Tamarack.
“The girls get to learn the sport without the pressure of what place they’re finishing in,” said Carney. “In the GMC, there are not enough teams to have division or conference titles. There are 10 individual awards given out though.”
The only postseason for the girls is a one-day state tournament, which they must qualify for.
“They used to be able to do it in practice rounds, but in the modern day, they need five qualifying rounds of 11-over-par or better,” Carney said. “It’s one and done for them.”
After years of coaching what was the top girls basketball program in the GMC at East Brunswick, the idea of a one-day postseason is quite a change for Carney.
“It’s very different after all those years of coaching basketball,” he said with a laugh.
This year’s Bears team is a unique one, according to Carney, as it’s led by a group of seniors who helped launch the program four years ago, as freshmen.
Seniors Alicia Cho (the only state qualifier for the Bears for the last three years), Kate Fitzgerald, Deanna Hoffman, Jennifer Chen and Lisa Wu have been with the program from its inception, while senior Kristina Antipin joined the team as a sophomore.
Cho, Fitzgerald, Hoffman and Chen serve as the team’s quad-captains this year, and thrive in that role, according to their coach.
“You couldn’t have four finer girls to help promote this program,” he said. “It’s a hard thing to do sometimes because there are no spectators, no refs and no coaches on the course with you, but these girls are just great ambassadors for the game.”
Among the girls that lettered for the Bears last year and are back once again are junior Elizabeth Andrew and sophomores Caroline Colgan, Tara Nulty and Michelle Petriello.
The list of girls trying to get their varsity letters this year includes senior Rebecca Jodido, juniors Brielle Razzano and Dana Pagliuco, who is the captain of the girls basketball team and also a varsity soccer standout, and Yuliya Chernykhovskaya, and sophomore Nicole Pfeil.
“The rest of the girls are freshmen who I think will carry over the success of the program,” Carney said.
They are Victoria Huang, Lauren Myers, Jasi-Lynn Tauber (whose brother Derek plays on the boys team), and Lauren Chang, who earned a spot in Friday’s line-up with a strong unofficial showing on Tuesday against West Windsor.
Henning and Carney have established a system that gives every player a chance to play in the official matches during the season.
“Only six can play in the match, so on the day of the match, four girls will hustle over to the course as soon as school ends to play a round,” Carney explained. “Then our six girls play in the match, while one or two others play in the coaches’ group that follows them. The other kids practice.”
If the girls who are not playing in the match play well in their unofficial round, posting a better score than the girls playing in the match, they will earn a spot in the next official match, according to Carney.
“It’s amusing at times with all the activity, but it’s what we do to make it competitive… That’s how we try to even it out.”
Thus far, the Lady Bears are 1-1 on the season, beating Old Bridge on Monday, 231-236 at Glenwood Country Club, before falling to West Windsor by one stroke, 232-233, on Tuesday.
In what will be his final campaign (he’s retiring at the season’s end), the veteran coach says he could not be happier with the group of girls that will be part of his swan song.
“We’ve got dancers, musicians, singers, basketball, soccer and field hockey players – what makes for a very interesting group,” he said. “Some of the schools get handed golfers, whereas we have kids who have interest in the sport, just no background.
“But it’s so much fun for me,” he added. “I love them all.”
Based on the popularity of the program, it seems that feeling is mutual.