By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Los Fresnos girls golf team will be well-represented at this week’s Region IV-6A Tournament in San Antonio.
Both the Lady Falcons’ A and B squads qualified for regional competition today and Tuesday at San Antonio’s Republic Golf Course by finishing first and second at the District 32-6A Tournament April 1-2 at Rancho Viejo Resort & Country Club.
Golfers can qualify for state from this week’s regional tournament by finishing as one of the top three teams or finishing as one of the top three individual golfers not on a state-qualifying team.
Regional competition for girls takes place today and Tuesday. Besides the Class 6A girls playing at Republic Golf Club, the Class 5A girls are playing at McAllen’s Palmview Golf Course, also today and Tuesday.
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial girls won the District 32-5A Tournament on April 1-2 at Weslaco’s Tierra Santa Golf Course. The Lady Chargers will be trying to qualify for the 5A girls state tournament in May for the third straight season.
The 6A boys regional tournament is scheduled Wednesday and Thursday at Republic Golf Club, and the 5A boys play those same days at Palmview.
Class 4A boys and girls play their regional tournaments today and Tuesday in Corpus Christi. The boys play at Lozano Golf Course and the girls play at Oso Golf Course.
The Los Fresnos A girls squad won district with a 712 score, while the Lady Falcons’ B squad was second with an 821.
The top three medalists in the 32-6A tournament were Los Fresnos teammates Gabriana Garrido (174), Natali Barrera (176) and Jossie Garcia (177).
Other members of Los Fresnos’ two girls squads are Jennifer Laznovsky, Ariana Garza, Jianna Granado, Brianna Munoz, Kasandra Garcia, Alex Montes and Allison McGinnis.
“It’s a solid group with plenty of experience,” Los Fresnos golf coach Luis Gonzalez said of his girls. “With three consecutive (32-6A) championships, a foundation for success has been achieved. The program has added a group of young players who have stepped up throughout the season.
“It’s a great privilege and blessing to advance two teams,” Gonzalez added. “We are heading up there (to San Antonio) with an understanding of the course and the level of play needed to compete at regionals. We have all five (A squad players) returning from last year’s regional team, and we’ve added some explosive youth. They’ve gotten stronger, and the confidence shows in their play.
“We get to see some of the best players in the nation (at this tournament). We plan to play to our strengths and represent the Los Fresnos way.”
Also playing at the 6A regional will be the boys teams from Harlingen High and Harlingen South along with individual qualifiers Chris Galvan of Harlingen High and Mike Robles of San Benito.
Regional individual qualifiers for the girls from 32-6A are Harlingen South’s Andrea Pimentel and Harlingen High’s Olivia Garza, who is replacing the injured Micaela Leandro.
Meanwhile, the Brownsville Veterans girls playing in the 5A regional event today and Tuesday are Fahtima Avila, Anisa Nieto, Gigi Ramirez, Fabiola Nino and Lauren Serra.
Avila (147), Nieto (169) and Ramirez (186) were the top three medalists at the 32-5A tournament.
Avila, a senior who recently signed to play golf next school year at Texas A&M-Kingsville University, ranks second in the Rio Grande Valley among high school female golfers this school year with a 75.94 average for 18 holes.
Edcouch-Elsa was the runner-up girls team at the 32-5A tournament, while the individual regional qualifiers for the girls were Lopez’s Natalie Ramirez and Stephanie Gonzalez.
For the boys at the 32-5A tournament, the top two teams were Donna High (686) and Brownsville Veterans (769). The Chargers edged E-E (769) on a one-hole playoff for second place.
Brownsville Veterans’ Daniel Yznaga (164) and Jonathan del Bosque of Donna High (164) were the top two medalists at district. Yznaga took first on a two-hole playoff.
Besides Yznaga, other members of the Brownsville Veterans boys squad are Michael Alvarez, Jesse Saldana, Isaac Sanchez and Jose Fernandez.
Individual regional qualifiers for the boys at district were E-E’s Nick Reyes and Manny Lopez.
Brownsville Veterans coach Thomas Abete said it’s a big plus to have the 5A regional event close to home.
“We are really excited the Valley is hosting the 5A regional tournament,” Abete said. “We finally get to compete at a course that we are familiar with. Palmview is in great shape, and we hope we can go out there and execute our game plan, which is par golf.”