By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers were in ninth place out of 12 teams after Monday’s opening round of the UIL Class 5A state tournament at Georgetown’s White Wing Golf Club.
The final round of the two-day state tournament is today.
The Lady Chargers, who finished fifth at the 5A state tournament a year ago, encountered a challenging course in Georgetown on Monday. Their top four scores out of five players gave them a 351 total, which was quite a ways behind team leader Grapevine at 305. Magnolia was second at 320 and Midlothian was third at 321. Sharyland High was fourth at 324.
“We’re 30 strokes back of third place for now,” Lady Chargers coach Thomas Abete said. “We just need to stick to the basics and play the way we know how to play.
“It was tough today with our confidence,” he added. “The girls were a little nervous, but we will continue to play hard until the 18th hole on Tuesday.”
The individual scores for the Lady Chargers on the par-72 course at White Wing Golf Club were Julie Lucio, 75; Fahtima Avila, 82; Ceci Garza, 96; Anisa Nieto, 98; and Gigi Ramirez, 101.
Lucio, a University of Houston signee, was one of four players tied for seventh place individually at 75. Also in the group of players with 75s is Sharyland High’s Laura Rodriguez. Lucio and Rodriguez posted the best first-day individual scores for the Valley.
Abete was encouraged by Lucio’s opening round and said she’s within striking distance of a place in the top three.
“Julie played great and is only six strokes back of the leader,” Abete said. “She’s calm and focused. She shot 3 over. It was a great round for Day One.”
The individual leader is Grapevine’s Gabriella Tomanka with a 3-under-par 69. Tied in second place are Grapevine’s Anna Takahashi and Magnolia’s Halle Whitney, both with 1-under 71s.
Aysis Azarcon of Mansfield Timberview and Jasmine Zhang of Midlothian are tied for fourth place with 72s, while Elise Parel of Humble Kingwood Park is alone in sixth place at 73.
After the four players with 75s, which included Lucio and Rodriguez, Sharyland High’s Raquel Flores was one of four players with 76s.
To qualify for state, Sharyland High, Brownsville Veterans and Boerne Champion placed first, second and third, respectively, as teams at the Region IV-5A Tournament on April 26 at San Antonio.