By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
The ride home from San Antonio was quite a happy one.
For the second consecutive year, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers have qualified for the Class 5A state golf tournament.
After making history a year ago by becoming Brownsville’s first girls golf team to play in the UIL state tournament, the Lady Chargers have done it again thanks to their performance during Thursday’s final round at the Region IV-5A Tournament in San Antonio.
The District 32-5A champion Brownsville Veterans girls finished the two-day regional tournament at The Golf Club of Texas (par 72) in the Alamo City with a 328-329 — 657 score, which was second behind Sharyland High, the tournament’s winning team with a 310-314 — 624 total. The third-place team was Boerne Champion (351-322 — 673).
In UIL regional competition, the top three teams and the top three individual players not on a state-qualifying team earn berths to play in the next month’s state tournament at Georgetown.
The regional tournaments for the 6A/5A boys were played Monday and Tuesday in San Antonio and the same tournaments for the girls followed Wednesday and Thursday. The 6A boys and girls played at Republic Golf Club (par 71).
Raquel Flores of Sharyland High shot 72-73 — 145 and was the overall medalist at the Region IV-5A girls event. Zayda Cedillo of Victoria East shot 77-75 — 152 and was the runner-up medalist.
Brownsville Veterans’ Julie Lucio (78-76 — 154) and Stephen F. Austin’s Hannah Choi (79-75 — 154) tied for the third medalist spot and Lucio won a two-hole playoff to take the No. 3 medalist award. Cedillo, Choi and Gabriela McNelly of Medina Valley (80-75 — 155) still go to state as the top three individuals not on state-qualifying teams.
“The (Brownsville Veterans) girls played tough both days and held their composure on a difficult golf course,” Lady Chargers coach Thomas Abete said. “Every girl contributed to this great team accomplishment. Julie finishing as third-place medalist on the second playoff hole with a one-and-a-half-foot birdie putt against the SFA girl was icing on the cake.
“I am extremely happy these girls will represent Brownsville ISD, Valley golfers and our community at the upcoming state tournament (again),” he added.
For Brownsville Veterans, Fahtima Avila finished sixth individually by shooting 74-84 — 158, while Cecilia Garza shot 87-82 — 169. Teammates Gigi Ramirez (97-87 — 184) and Anisa Nieto (89-101 — 190) rounded out the scores for the Lady Chargers.
The 32-5A runner-up Lopez Lady Lobos also played in the regional tournament and finished 11th out of 16 teams.
Meanwhile, there were not any Valley qualifiers for state at the Region IV-6A Tournament for girls played at the same time at Republic Golf Club, also in San Antonio.
The best showing by a Valley team Thursday at the Region IV-6A event was turned in by Los Fresnos, which finished eighth with a 338-374 — 712 total. Playing for the Lady Falcons were Brianna Munoz, Jossie Garcia, Kasandra Garcia, Natali Barrera and Alexandra Montes.
No Valley golfer finished in the top 15. The best showing individually was 18th place by Mission High’s
Mia Lerma (79-74 — 153) and 29th by Harlingen High’s Micaela Leandro (78-83 — 161). Hanna’s Alexis Rodriguez was also in the field as an individual competitor.
The top three Region IV-6A medalists were all from Austin Westlake. They were Sadie Englemann (70-69 — 139), Bentley Cotton (66-74 — 140) and Madelyn Jones (70-74 — 144).
The top three teams were Westlake (281-293 — 574), Austin Lake Travis (291-302 — 593) and San Antonio Reagan (300-298 — 598).
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess