KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — The golf season has reached the midway point, and the San Benito Greyhounds golf team is feeling pretty good about itself.
“We have placed twice so far this fall, and at our last tournament we placed first,” ’Hounds coach Henry Valle said. “I’m happy with the results, and, of course, our ultimate goal is to place at the district meet.”
At the midway point, the ’Hounds are in their holiday break and have turned their focus to the District 32-6A meet in April at the Rancho Viejo golf course.
While the district meet is months away, the ’Hounds are using their current success as motivation to carry it over into the spring.
“We are preparing for the district meet, and we have set our goals,” Valle said.
The team to beat will be the Harlingen High Cardinals. San Benito feels they have the pieces in play to make a run at a district title despite the uphill battle.
“(Harlingen High is) the top dog, and everyone is gunning for them and they know it,” Valle said. “They have a great group of kids, but that does not mean we will sit back and do nothing, we will continue to work and get better.”
The ’Hounds will look to Josh Salazar, Mike Robles, Nick Dominguez and Steve Falcon to help guide the team.
Senior Jaime Coronado is the No. 3 golfer on a five-man roster, and his the play has caught Valle’s eye. Salazar, who is a sophomore, has made a nice turnaround from his freshman season and is expected to do well in the spring.
“We have had some seniors step up this year that hadn’t produced before,” Valle said. “The commitment is there and they have worked hard all summer, and now we are seeing the results and they have done a good job.”
Robles placed first in the Brownsville Fall invitational. Robles shot a 73 on the first day to earn a comfortable lead and capped it off with an 80 on the second day.
“I started out strong on the first day,” Robles said. “I was feeling it, and I felt like I could not be stopped. The second day was a little different, I struggled a bit, but I pulled through and was able to finish strong.
“I knew it was going to be tough to beat my score from the first day, so I tried to finish ahead of the guys in my group. I was able to beat them, I wasn’t really happy with it, and there was room to improve.”