DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
After Day 1 of the UIL Class 5A state golf tournament at Wolfdancer Golf Club in Lost Pines, Sharyland High’s girls golf team is in striking distance of a state championship.
The Lady Rattlers posted a score of 317 for a second-place standing on Monday, 20 shots behind first-place Humble Kingwood Park. Aledo and Austin Vandegrift are each seven shots behind Sharyland High in third place. Frisco Liberty is in fifth place with a 331 score.
Sharyland High is paced by juniors Ana Jose Erana, the Region IV-5A champion, and Mariana Flores, who each shot a 75, five strokes behind first-place Cheyenne Knight of Aledo and Hanna Alberto of Humble Kingwood Park.
Michelle Moroles shot a 79 as the Lady Rattlers placed three in the top 20.
“The girls played pretty solid, like they have all season,” Sharyland High girls coach Fernando Rodriguez said. “We had a good practice round Sunday and were out on the course from early afternoon to sundown. That was valuable.
“The greens here are fast, and the girls were accustomed to that. They gave themselves a chance by placing the ball well on the greens. We’re right there.”
It is the Sharyland High girls program’s third consecutive trip to state. The program has never won a state title despite six appearances.
The Lady Rattlers’ best finish at state was a third-place standing back when Sharyland High was in Class 4A years ago.
They have a chance to best that mark today and Mother Nature figures to be on their side. A cold front blew in late Monday night and the forecast was 65 degrees today, with 15-20 mile-per-hour winds.
“We love the wind,” Rodriguez said. “That’s how it is at home, and of course the teams up here don’t like the wind. It’s to our advantage.”
Sharyland High’s Christina Shinn-Roldan will start things off for the Lady Rattlers this morning with a 9:30 a.m. tee time.
Sharyland Pioneer junior Carina Hernandez finished with an 86 after Day 1, 16 strokes back of first place. It is Hernandez’s first trip to state.
“I thought it was OK,” Hernandez said. “There were definitely some shots I could’ve improved on, so I’ll just try building off that.”
Hernandez tees off today at 9:20 a.m.
“It’s about not relaxing mentally and not letting up on focus,” she said. “I just had some shots I let up on. It was about accuracy and me needing to get as close to the pin as possible.”