Submitted photo – Bria Larson
Del Norte’s Bria Larson posted the low round of the day for the second straight week in H-DNL girls golf at Beau Pre on Wednesday.
The Del Norte senior continued her mid-season surge with a career best round of 91 to open up a commanding eight-stroke lead in the league standings with just two rounds remaining.
Two weeks ago she sat 12 strokes off the league lead, and since then she has not just closed the gap but has stormed her way into a dominating advantage.
Her teammate Jaylee Keeling, who also has a victory this season, had the third best score of the day on Wednesday and the dynamic Del Norte duo have the Warriors on the verge of a first-ever league team championship.
The Del Norte girls posted a fourth team win in five rounds on Wednesday, beating the field by 26 strokes.
They now hold an almost insurmountable 129-stroke advantage in the race for the championship.
Another golfer who is making an impressive run over the past few weeks is McKinleyville’s Ingrid Monaghan.
The Panthers standout transferred from St. Bernard’s this year and had to sit out the first two rounds of league play because of transfer protocols.
But since then she has impressed.
Monaghan placed second on Wednesday for the second straight week, carding a round of 94, just three stokes back of Larson.
She now sits fifth in the season standings.
Eureka’s Hailey Forster had the fourth best score of the day with a 113, followed by Arcata’s Mira Rust-Kelley and McKinleyville’s Jaxin Bartoo, who each carded a 116 to tie for fifth on the day.
Keeling now sits second in the season standings with a 410, eight strokes behind her league-leading teammate.
Forster (415), Zwald (439), Monaghan (439), Del Norte’s Taylor Horner (462) and Arcata’s Sabrina McDonald (480) round out the top seven and the all-league spots.
As a team, Del Norte had three golfers place in the top eight at Beau Pre and carded a 437, followed by the McKinleyville girls, who had two golfers in the top five, and placed second with a 463.
Arcata (482) and Eureka (482) tied for third, with Fortuna (518) rounding out the top five.
Zwald had the seventh best individual round of the day with a 119, one stroke better than Del Norte’s Kalyssa Moodie, who carded a season-best 119.
Arcata’s Shayla Hoffman and Eureka’s Daphne Log tied for ninth with identical rounds of 120.
The penultimate round of league play will take place at Del Norte next Thursday, before the H-DNL season concludes at Baywood a week later.
The North Coast Section Division-2 championships will also take place at Baywood on Oct. 27.
It’s sad that Del Norte is losing its golf course which may result in DN not being able to have a golf team in the spring and in future years. These kids work hard and deserve to be able to compete.