Team finished 10-7
by John Beisser, Sports Writer
When the inaugural girls’ golf season at Hillsborough High was set to kick off, neither head coach Brian West nor any of his players had any clue as to how the team would perform.
There was absolutely no road map, no blue print, no plans to follow. It was just, grip it and rip it and the let chips fall where they may. Well, those chips, or perhaps stars, lined up pretty darn well for the Raiders as Hillsborough compiled a 10-7 record with several of those wins coming over established, winning programs.
”We definitely exceeded all of my expectations,” West said. “For a first-year program to have the success we had, it went beyond my wildest dreams. Kristina (Wagner) is great but really everyone just kept getting better and better and their scores kept going down, down and down.”
The signature victory of the 2008 season came on April 17 when the Raiders posted a 214-216 win over Montgomery, a result that was significant for several reasons.
”That’s an established program that’s been around for a couple years and it’s a neighboring town so that added something else to it,” West said. “I’m hoping that the success of this season will lend itself to some word of mouth throughout the school that number one, we have a girls’ golf team now and number two, that we’re successful.”
Attracting new golfers into the program will be integral as the 2009 Raiders will feature seven seniors and one sophomore. In their maiden season, certainly the Raiders were blessed to have a major talent on the roster in junior Kristina Wagner, one of the top players in the entire state who has a real chance to continue her golfing career on the collegiate level.
Wagner teed it up with the HHS boys’ team as a sophomore in 2007 and there’s very little that fazes or ruffles her. Highlights of her season included a sub-45 nine-hole scoring average, winning the Skyland Conference Girls Championship, second place in the Central Jersey Golf League tournament, a fifth-place finish in the NJSIAA Girls Championship and a second-place finish in the East Brunswick Invitational.
”Kristina had a great season and was a terrific role model and mentor for her teammates,” West said. “Her leadership was very instrumental in our success and her game speaks for itself. In fact, she really should have finished in second place in the state tournament. She had a lost ball in the high grass on her 16th hole, which led to a triple-bogey. If she pars that hole, she shoots 78 instead of 81 and is second in the entire state.”
Junior Tiffany Pierce is the next most experienced player on the team who consistently shot between 50 and 55 with a low score of 49.
”I think she can come down to averaging between 47 and 52 next season,” West said.
Junior Sarah Mirabella shot rounds mostly between 53 and 58 with a low round of 51, while the athletic Melissa DiLeone also showed dramatic improvement as the season progressed, reducing her scores to the mid 50’s. Hillsborough also received major contributions from juniors Amanda Batulla, Sara Cassimatis, Ryan Feeney and freshman Ash Gaikwad.
”Everyone contributed to our success,” West said. “Every girl had at least two or three rounds where their scores counted towards our team total. I think the girls had a positive experience and we’re all looking forward to next season. I think it was a good combination of fun and competition.”
While a 10-7 initial season is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of, all sports, and in particular golf, stand for something more than wins and losses.
”Our girls all displayed good sportsmanship, honesty and integrity,” West said. “And they all developed friendships with girls from other teams. I just think it was a real positive experience all the way around.”